SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Baker Creek will be closed to sport fishing starting April 1 and will remain closed until June 15 to help the recovering Arctic grayling stock.
The creek will be closed to sport fishing but aboriginal subsistence fishing isn't affected.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has been looking into making the regulatory change for about three years, said Deanna Leonard, fisheries management biologist.
Former mayor Gord Van Tighem casts a fly into Baker Creek in the fall of 2009, following the launch of a "living classroom " project to educate the public about the species of fish returning to the creek to spawn after a decades-long absence. Fishing will be closed during the spring spawning season, starting this to better protect the stock. - NNSL file photo |
"It was open to catch and release but observations from locals and researchers indicated the fish had signs of handling," she said.
"It's one of the first waters to open up in the springtime and a great spot for angling. But it's also a very important area for the fish to go and spawn. You can walk into the creek and pick them up, that's how vulnerable they are and because they are a stock recovering we expect there are very few numbers of spawning pairs so we need to do what we can to protect the fish and allow them to recover."
Baker Creek flows through the Giant Mine site into Yellowknife Bay on Great Slave Lake. Arctic grayling spawn in the creek in spring and early summer. Fish were absent from Baker Creek during most of the mine's 50-year-long existence due to contaminants in the water, including arsenic trioxide. But the fish began to return only a few years after the mine closed in 1999.
Brian Heppelle, executive director of the Fly Kid Foundation, calls Baker Creek a living classroom.
"In 1994 when I first got here there was no sport fishing there," he said.
"It was dead but nature will find a way and there's a lot of things going on there that don't meet the eye."
Heppelle supports the decision of a seasonal sport fishing closure because it means preserving the habitat for future generations and acting as a nursery for Yellowknife Bay.
"There are a lot of hurdles for that creek. Let's give the fish a chance to do their thing," he said.
Heppelle has fished at the creek before and has shown others how to reduce stress on their catch of the day before releasing it back into the water.
"Basic handling can cause stress and damage. There isn't a huge stock of fish, so the same ones end up being caught and they do show signs of handling, like missing scales," said Heppelle.
"It's a pretty fragile resource and this was a step in the right direction. I'm supportive of regulations if they're for conservation purposes," he said.
There will be signs posted at the creek informing users of the fishing ban and information will also be published in the sport fisher guide published by the GNWT, said Leonard.
The fisheries officers based in Yellowknife will also make the area a priority for patrols, she said.
