Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Perusing Through Red River Catfish Guide

By Rosella Campbell


The Red Waterway technical committee on fisheries was formed in 1989 and was meant to oversee the stocks of fish which are shared on this river. Their objectives varied from determining fish population, formulation protection measures, development of standardized valuation on fisheries and development of future action plans. The red river catfish guide was accepted by the two states which border it.

One of the recommendations proposed was a unique regulation that was to protect the fish population from over harvesting. The limit of catfish that were to be possessed was set at a maximum of five and only one was to be more than twenty four inches. The regulation was made in reference to the North Dakota 1990 and Minnesota 1991 proposals.

Population estimations were performed in series in order to determine the total population of those bigger catfishes which resided in this waterway. Intense carryout of this sampling procedures were partly aimed in determination of the 1990 impact on channel catfish regulations. The other part aimed in determining the population of this fish and the catfish size structure and population in Red water course.

Both states have conducted surveys on anglers depending on this water body so as to determine watercourse usage by residents and nonresidents, the rates of harvest, general location and time of year when harvesting mostly occurred among others. Creels were carried on for four month during summer by Minnesota and later again by North Dakota during open water months. This was done in order to determine the impact of experimental spring fishing.

The process of making evaluation on impacts from opening the river to public fishing started in the springs of 1998. Before this, the watercourse was closed in an aim to prevent over harvesting of certain fish species. From 2000 to 2004, spring fishing included a series of limitations on sizes and possessions so as to check on the numbers being harvested. The regulations were to be enforced by conservations officials from the two states.

Based on information that was provided by the anglers during the survey, the restrictive limits in the springs and the more liberal limits that were set in place for the rest of the year had very insignificant or totally no impact on the populations. The North Dakota department of game and fish proposed an all seasonal every day and possession limit without limitation in size. The new regulation was to be evaluated to check whether the goals and objectives set were being accomplished.

The North Dakota ministry of game and fish worked together with Minnesota DNR to carry out repetitive sampling on the river for the period between 1995 and 2001. The aim of this project generally to determine the fish population, the structure on number and size of various species and to serve in development of trend lines which would check on changes in catfish population.

The committee has initiated steps aimed to standardize procedures on Red Water Course with an aim of making fishing to be very user friendly. The regulations are to be grounded on biology that is logical, must be enforceable and should be assessed to ensure that fishing becomes better and enjoyable.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment