MWF collecting data on local fishery
Making sure that the Red River has a strong local fishery is important for business, tourism, recreation and more. Unfortunately, the Manitoba Wildlife Federation (MWF) can’t consult the fish directly so they’ve decided to ask our local experts, ice fishers for information about their catches which will be compiled into The Red River Creel Survey.
“The intention of the creel survey is to collect data to allow the fisheries managers to better manage the fishery. What they look at in the data and what they try to collect is information on how the anglers are using the resource. And also, what they’re catching, how much time and how much effort they’re expending,” said Chase Dreilich, Recreational Angling Coordinator for the MWF.
He explained that every fish caught essentially has an hourly rate associated with it after this data is collected. The data is analyzed and information about how much time anglers are spending on the ice, what types of fish are being caught, and how much and where they are being caught are looked at in terms of long-term trends which give us information about the health of the fishery.
Dreilich says that this information is important for a few different reasons.
“Fish is a huge resource in Manitoba. We have waterways all over Manitoba and the Red River is a very popular spot for anglers to be. I believe it’s the largest flowing waterway into Lake Winnipeg as well. Lake Winnipeg has many other inflows, too, but if the inflows are unhealthy going into Lake Winnipeg [it could affect the Lake’s health]. So, keeping an eye on the Red River is important. It also is a huge economic driver for the province as well. As we know, access to the Red River is very easy so, it allows a lot of people, both new anglers and experienced anglers to get out and enjoy fishing, just right off their back door, essentially,” he said.
The surveyors are currently set up at four access points in our community and will continue to be there this month until the river is no longer being used by ice fishers.
“Our creel clerks are set up at the end of Main, Selkirk Park, CIL Road access, and in Lockport. Ideally, they’d like to talk to anglers coming off to the ice, and then they get accurate information from them. How many fish they caught, what species did they catch, did they keep any of those fish, were any of the fishers master anglers, how much time they spent fishing, how many anglers were in the group, and where they’re from, and what kind of baits they’re using, are all the questions that they’re looking to gather. If they catch them going on to the ice, generally, they’ll get something that’s called a creel card. It’ll require anglers to self-report and fill out the card and then there’s a card box that they can drop them off at those locations as well,” said Dreilich.
Some of the big pieces of information that they are looking for are how many anglers are using the resource, how much time they are spending out there as well as what they are doing with the fish. Overall this information is looking to see how much pressure the fishery is under.
Dreilich explained that this is a volunteer survey. The MWF is partnering with the province’s fisheries department to produce this survey and this is a fish and wildlife enhancement fund funded program.
Once the information is collected it will be given to the province’s fishery biologists to analyze and findings will be shared in a report.
Dreilich would like to thank the anglers who participate.
“Recreational anglers have always been great at advocating for this resource. At the end of the day, all the user groups want the same thing, and they’ve been amazing at participating. So far, we’ve had a lot of positive feedback from our surveyors. We’ve had a lot of participation and a lot of people willing to share all the information. It goes such a long way in knowing that anglers are willing to take a short amount of time out of their day to help out the resource like that. Definitely a big thank you to everyone who participates. We hope they continue to participate throughout the rest of the survey,” he said.
