It’s not exactly hook, line and sinker but the Province, as well as the City of Cold Lake, is pretty happy with the status of fish in the lake. Cold Lake Council heard a presentation in their last meeting from various members of Alberta Environment and Parks as well as Fish and Wildlife Officers. The meeting was in part a way for Cold Lake officials to stay up to date with the fish population numbers biologists are seeing from Alberta’s lakes.
Cold Lake Mayor Craig Copeland says it was a great check-up to make sure they keep up to date on what could become a future problem.
“The fact is we have a lot of fisherman and not many lakes. We’re not like Saskatchewan and Ontario, who are blessed with a lot of lakes for fisherman. The fish population has been getting stressed.”
The presentation had good news for council. The efforts to maintain a healthy population of fish seems to be working. Regulating numbers pulled out of the lake and using a tag system has brought the population of Walleye, Trout and Pike back from lower levels seen after a 1940’s collapse.
Copeland says he’s always pleased to hear good results. He says council wants to work with enforcement to make sure that rules don’t hurt the appeal of the lake to other sportsmen.
“fishing brings a lot of business to communities across Alberta. As a group on the council, we’re trying to encourage the biologists to look at the economics when it comes to fishing.”
Copeland cites an average of 25,000 fishing days are spent each year on Cold Lake by various fisherman as a great drive for keeping the lake healthy and happy. Regulations are expected to stay the same for at least the next season, with no new changes.