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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Catch limits have been reduced on three more lakes along the Ingraham Trail due to declining lake trout stocks.

Deanna Leonard, fisheries manager biologist with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, holds a barbless hook - mandatory in NWT - which is another conservation measure the department is promoting this summer. - Cara Loverock/NNSL Photo

The new daily catch and possession limits for Banting Lake, Vee Lake and River Lake will bring them in line with adjacent Prosperous, Walsh and Prelude lakes, and will make enforcing the limits easier, according to a fisheries spokesperson. The latest restrictions were introduced April 1.

The previous daily catch limits were three and the possession limit five for the three lakes.

As well, from September 1 to October 31, anglers will be prohibited from catching or possessing lake trout from the three bodies of water during the fall spawning period.

Deanna Leonard, fisheries management biologist with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, said it's just logical to manage all the lakes in the area in a similar way.

"Some of the heavier fished lakes, they already have the reduced catch and possession limits. When the lakes are all so close together, it is difficult to discern where the fish are being caught," she said.

Leonard added, anglers, when pressed, could say they caught fish from one of the adjoining lakes where limits were higher.

She said there was a feeling from the public that there needed to be greater compliance with the limits. "There is no point of putting a management limit in place if you can't enforce it."

New limits were imposed on Prosperous, Walsh and Prelude in 2005 after concerns were about the large number of anglers on the lakes and declining lake trout catches.

Leonard said the department conducted creel and angler surveys, polls, plus gathered public feedback and anecdotes from long-time residents of the region to get impressions of the amount of fishing taking place along Ingraham Trail lakes.

"Ingraham Trail is a priority area for us to be monitoring because of the access to those lakes," said Leonard.

"Trout (stocks) specifically are still growing and we know from historical accounts that there were more trout there than there are currently."

While the department did a stock assessment for Prelude and Prosperous lakes last summer, the results are not yet in.

The limits mean a resident can't have more than the daily limit in their possession.

Russ Heslep, an avid fisher, said he supports the department's move.

"I think it's probably a good idea," he said.

"We're sports fisherman. We're not here to fill our freezers and I think it's always good to take precautions whenever possible, so we have fishing in the future."

Heslep said he just hoped that if the measures were being put in place, they were being monitored and enforced effectively.

He said he believed it would be some time before anyone knows whether the measures were working, as they have just recently been introduced.

Gary Steele, who works at Wolverine Guns and Tackle, said most sports fishers understand the need for limits and he hasn't heard any badmouthing of the new measures.

"Nobody has been negative about it," he said.