A Canadian example of the year round closing of critical fish habitat

There are many examples around the world where critical fish habitat has been closed to fishing in order to provide a reservoir where fish can live without being targetted by fishers. In one sense this is similar to having protected wildlife refuges and parks which provide critical habitat for animals to live.

However, the much more common approach in Canada is to prevent fishing for certain periods or seasons of the year. It is time to look in more detail at the possibility of closing certain areas of lakes and rivers completely to fishing as a way of ensuring strong and sustainable fish stocks.

The year round closure of the Mercer Bay on Besnard Lake in northern Saskatchewan (see photo above), and the year-round closure of the Besnard Lake narrows to fishing is an example of this approach.

To the best of my knowledge the closures of these two sections of Besnard Lake was initiated by a Metis, John Hastings, who was a long time resident of the lake and who had long experience with the fishery on the lake. His efforts were supported by a number of others on the lake. The closures were initiated in about 1973. The road to Besnard Lake came in that year, and there were immediately major problems with individuals coming in along the road taking far more than their allowed catch from the Mercer Bay. It was apparent that if radical action was not taken, the fishery on the whole lake would be compromised. Thus, the Mercer Bay and the narrows were fully closed to fishing all year, and have remained so ever since. These closures have been well accepted and are generally regarded as having had a substantial positive impact to keep the fishery on Besnard Lake in reasonable shape.

I provide this example as a Canadian illustration of the sort of approach being taken in Laos by Roger and Pauline - see http://www.manitobaliberals.ca/2006/08/roger-mollot-and-pauline-gerrard.html

As you can see, although the approach seems to be working well on Besnard Lake, the sign in the photo is aging and needs to be replaced or repainted.