ALBERTA FISH RESCUE PROJECT
 SOUTHERN ALBERTA CROPS AND RANGELAND depend largely on water supplies from various irrigation canals that divert water from the Bow, Highwood, Belly, Oldman and many other rivers. There are currently 13 irrigation districts in southern Alberta that provide for over 1.3 million acres of farmland. Though the canals are extremely important to the livelihood of many in southern Alberta, they trap fish that enter the canal systems. Fish can readily move into the canal, but they cannot travel back to their original systems without human assistance. Of the six canals that have consistently been a part of the Fish Rescue program, only one has an exclusion device that prevents larger fish from entering the canal.
The goal of TUC’s Fish Rescue program is to capture as many trapped fish as possible from these canals and return them to functional waterbodies. TUC works with Alberta Environment to accomplish this task and also
 depends on both corporate and private donors. This project depends on a major contribution from volunteers in local communities. Without this effort, this project would not go forth. Besides rescuing the fish, the rescue effort also collects valuable data regarding species composition and abundance, while providing an excellent educational tool for the participants of the operation.
The annual Fish Rescue has grown from its beginnings in 1996 as an inventory of fish as well as species, length, and weight data. Collection techniques have not changed substantially since the commencement of this project. Each year information is compared to baseline data from past Fish Rescues as well as other earlier studies.
The 2008 Fish Rescue fieldwork took place over 12 days. Data collection occurred along Western Headworks Canal (WHC), Women’s Coulee Diversion (WCD), Carseland Bow River Headworks Canal (CBRHC), Mountain View Leavitt Aetna Headworks Canal (MVLAHC), Waterton Belly Diversion (WBD), and Lethbridge Northern Headworks Canal (LNHC). Crews also visited the Belly Headworks Canal and St. Mary Main Canal to investigate the possibility of adding these sites to the annual investigations.
PROJECT OBJECTIVES:
The overall objectives of the study were to repeat previous Fish Rescue investigations within the WHC, WCD, CBRHC, MVLAHC, WBD, and LNHC, and to capture entrained fish from canals for release into appropriate mainstem systems. More specifically, the goals of the 2008 Fish Rescue included:
| • | Ensuring consistency in sampling sites and methods within each diversion canal;
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| • | Gathering information regarding species composition and abundance in the canals as well as length and weight data;
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| • | Completing a report for Alberta Environment outlining the findings of the study and recommendations for the 2009 effort;
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| • | Encouraging public involvement in the Fish Rescue while facilitating education regarding fish conservation and biology in Alberta; |
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| • | Rescuing as many fish as possible.
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2008 PROJECT RESULTS:
 The 2008 Fish Rescue resulted in the capture of 11,286 sportfish and 25,335 non-sportfish — a total of 36,621 fish recovered from six irrigation canals in southern Alberta. Eleven sport species and 11 non-sport species were caught at WHC, WCD, CBRHC, MVLAHC, WBD, and LNHC. Mountain whitefish and rainbow trout were found in each of the six canals sampled. Mountain whitefish made up the largest proportion of the sport species, accounting for 19.9% of the total catch. Rainbow trout was the second most abundant sport species collected overall, accounting for 3.8% of the total catch. Burbot followed, accounting for 3.7% of the total catch, then brown trout (2.3% of the total fish caught). Lake whitefish and northern pike together accounted for 1.1% the total catch. Four lake trout were captured from LNHC and WBD (previously they have only been captured at WHC during Fish Rescue). Sixteen brook trout, four bull trout, one yellow perch, and one suspected cutthroat trout x rainbow trout hybrid were also captured during the 2008 effort.
Longnose dace and white suckers were the most abundant of the non-sportfish making up 24.6% and 22.4% of the total fish captured, respectively, and were found in each of the six canals. Lake chub were also found in each canal and made up 6.6% of the total catch. Eight other non-sport species were captured, including longnose suckers, trout perch, brook stickleback, spoonhead sculpins, fathead minnow, mountain suckers, northern redbelly dace and spottail shiners. Not only is the Fish Rescue a worthwhile project, it is a fascinating biological hands-on field lesson exploring the diversity of stream life for participating children and adults alike.
To download or view a PDF of the 2008 Alberta Fish Rescue report, click here. (4.1 mB)
For information on how you can take part in this project, or to donate to the Alberta Fish Rescue, contact Lesley Peterson.
FOR INFORMATION ON HOW YOU CAN TAKE PART IN THE 2009 FISH RESCUE, CLICK HERE!
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