Close to a couple weeks before Christmas, I was invited to the Prairies Area/Southern Rockies Fisheries Management Roundtable meeting. There was a diverse group of people present to discuss past and future projects about our fisheries in our area. Biologists from Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development (SRD) talked about several topics including the health of the trout in the Bow River and also proposed regulation changes to help protect such species as the cutthroat trout.
One of the more intriguing conversations of the evening was about a fungus that is affecting brown trout in the city section of the Bow River in Calgary. It is also affecting some whitefish and rainbow trout but in particular large male brown trout.
It is suspected that these fish are infected with saprolegniasis, also named sapro for short or cotton wool fungus. It is a water mould that is common in most freshwater ecosystems around the planet. If a trout is stressed or has previous damage on the body or fins, sapro can attack and erode larger and larger areas of skin. An infected trout looks like it has clumps of cotton wool attached to certain parts of their body. In serious cases trout will lose their ability to swim properly and eventually die.
Larger browns received the worst of this fungus partly because they spawn in the fall and are under stress. This was the time of year when many anglers, including myself, saw many dead browns while fishing in the Bow River. The males are territorial during the spawn and will push other fish aside to mate with the females. I am not a biologist, but the water levels were very low during the season and I think this caused additional stress to the trout populations.
One of my favourite outings is to watch the brown trout spawn in early November by the Calgary Zoo. I enjoy seeing some of the biggest fish in the river doing their thing in order to survive and replenish.
It was disheartening to see about 30 per cent of the norm spawning. It makes me wonder how many browns have passed away and what the future holds for this magnificent fish.
I also think of what things I can do to improve as an angler and to help restore the waters I like to fly fish so much. I know that if I am handling a fish after I catch it having wet hands and returning the fish as quickly as possible is a good idea. I don't like using nets but if I do I like using a rubber net instead of a mesh one. Trout are covered in a type of protective mucous membrane to help fight against disease and fungus such as sapro. Mesh nets or using gloves can remove that protective slime and expose the trout to further harm.
Another thing I have taken on personally is not to fish the Bow River in Calgary this winter. I know it sounds extreme but I don't care to fish in a river where fish are just trying to survive. There are a ton of other places I can go fishing instead. The Bow River isn't the only place to fly fish.
I wanted to touch on other topics that were explained but it may have to wait for another time. Good things like regulations and habitat development that will help recover westslope cutthroat trout that are native to Alberta. On the crazy side was the invasion of the Prussian Carp, a.k.a. goldfish. It appears that people have been dumping their unwanted pets into our streams and rivers. Now there is an abundance of them in tiny tributaries that are impossible to fully eradicate.
I believe as anglers we have a certain responsibility to keep ourselves educated and look after what we have. There are fishermen out there that can't tell the difference between a cutthroat and a rainbow trout or the difference between a lake trout and a brown. I think at some point in time all anglers will have to pass a fish identification test to avoid such problems as wrongful harvesting. This point was also talked about and I guess we will see what happens.
