There is a difference between the Barrhead Fish & Game Association (BFGA) and Alberta Fish & Wildlife, says BFGA president Joe Prociuk.
Prociuk stopped by the Barrhead Leader April 11 in an effort to clear up some confusion that residents may have, regarding the association and Fish & Wildlife, with respect to regulation changes at Dolberg Lake.
“Barrhead Fish & Game has approximately 600 members. Our main program is running and maintaining the gun range and we have a healthy club,” Prociuk said, noting the BFGA is part of the larger 14,000-member Alberta Fish & Game Association and is the biggest and oldest in the province out of 80 that are attached.
Prociuk said the BFGA works with Alberta Fish & Wildlife on regulation changes.
“Having said that, there are some misconceptions out there regarding the differences between the BFGA and Alberta Fish & Wildlife. People have a tendency to mix the two up. I get phone calls at least twice a month and more during hunting season from people asking us [BFGA] to deal with moose or deer or what-have-you on their property and that isn’t what we do. That’s Fish & Wildlife.”
Prociuk said it isn’t just phone calls that he gets.
“We get their mail too and every once in a while I have to bring it back to the post office and explain that, no, this isn’t for me, this is for Fish & Wildlife,” he said, noting that the reverse also occurs.
Not even council is immune.
“I talked to county manager Debbie Oyarzun the other day and asked what was going on because I read in the paper that I had been invited to speak to council but nobody has called me. They said they had and gave me the name of a person they had spoken to but, as it turns out, that’s a member of Alberta Fish & Wildlife.
“I agree with the articles that the paper has published and have no issue with anything in them except that the organizations are getting mixed up. It is Alberta Fish & Wildlife that is supposed to go before council, not the BFGA,” Prociuk said.
He said the association holds its monthly meetings at the Barrhead Legion and noted that it was at their November meeting that Athabasca-based Alberta Fish & Wildlife biologist Marcel Mancullo was invited to give a presentation.
“He said that [Alberta Fish & Wildlife] were contemplating doing some regulation changes out at the lake, but it was the first time that I had heard about it. His presentation was fairly good and we were given surveys. Basically, Alberta Fish & Wildlife were looking at four different things — the introduction of tiger trout into the lake, changing the usage of the lake, shutting down ice fishing in the winter or making Dolberg a so-called ‘trophy lake’.
“We had a round-table discussion and everyone gave their own personal opinions on what they thought was best. The majority of the association’s members were not too enthused about this trophy lake nonsense, but some could understand shutting down the ice fishing,” Prociuk said, noting that after the meeting was over, Mancullo asked for input on other locations to leave the survey.
Prociuk said the Kodiak Lake Hunting & Fishing store was mentioned.
“That’s where a lot of the area’s sportsmen go and that’s where we left it. No motions were made at all. It was just a general information meeting. We filled out the surveys and forgot about it.”
However, at the beginning of April, Prociuk said he was contacted by County of Barrhead CAO Debbie Oyarzun.
“She was quite concerned and wanted to know what we knew, if anything. I was and am under the impression, and this is my personal opinion, that the decision had already been made and [Alberta Fish & Wildlife] were just going through the motions. I worked in communications for over 40 years and I’ve dealt with the government before. In my experience nothing moves that quickly but I’m not going to blackball anyone over this,” he said.
With respect to the introduction of tiger trout, Prociuk said it is important to understand that lakes like Dolberg are stocked on an annual basis.
“There aren’t any native trout in these pothole lakes. This species is sterile and grow twice as fast as rainbow trout. They are, in effect, there for the general public’s fishing pleasure and on that issue, the association agreed,” Prociuk said.
He said the general consensus of the association’s members was to leave the lake alone.
“We did agree that it would be great to see tiger trout in there though, because it’s a local thing. Sure, we get people who drive in from Edmonton and other places but the majority of the people who use the lake are locals who live within 50 kilometres.”
