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 2009 Fish Rescue took place over 11 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).
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 2009 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 2010 effort, and making this report available to the public;
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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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2009 PROJECT RESULTS:
 The 2009 Fish Rescue resulted in the capture of 14,544 sportfish and 15,959 non-sportfish — a total of 30,503 fish recovered from six irrigation canals in southern Alberta. Ten sport species and twelve non-sport species were caught at WHC, WCD, CBRHC, MVLAHC, WBD, and LNHC. Mountain whitefish, rainbow trout, and burbot were found in each of the six canals sampled. Mountain whitefish made up the largest proportion of the total catch, (23.6%) with 7202 individuals captured. Burbot was the second most abundant sport species collected overall, accounting for 17.3% of the total catch. Rainbow trout followed, accounting for 2.9% of the total catch, then brown trout (1.7% of the total fish caught). Lake whitefish and northern pike together accounted for 2.0% the total catch. Six bull trout, five brook trout, one yellow perch, and one cutthroat trout made up the remainder of the sportfish captured during the 2009 effort.
The largest fish captured was a 743 mm (fork length) burbot from LNHC that weighed 3526 g (29 inches, 7.8 pounds). The largest bull trout was captured at WCD and had a fork length of 519 mm and weighed 1509 g (20.4 inches, 3 pounds); the largest brown trout was captured at CBRHC and had a fork length of 568 mm and weighed 2205 g (22.4 inches, 4.9 pounds); the largest rainbow trout was captured at WHC and had a fork length of 582 mm and weighed 3128 g (22.9 inches, 6.9 pounds).
Longnose dace, longnose suckers, and white suckers were the most abundant of the non-sportfish making up 18.3% and 12.8%, and 11.8% of the total fish captured, respectively. Nine other non-sport species were captured, including mountain suckers, trout perch, brook stickleback, spoonhead sculpins, fathead minnow, northern redbelly dace, emerald shiners, and pearl dace.
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 2009 Alberta Fish Rescue report, click here. (2.3 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 2010 FISH RESCUE, CLICK HERE!
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