EDMONTON - Of course fish swim, but do they enjoy boating? After a remarkable raft ride from shore, 26,000 rainbow trout will have a new home in a Rocky Mountain lake this week.

Alberta Sustainable Resource Development, with the assistance of Community Development park staff, will be releasing trout raised at the Sam Livingston Fish Hatchery in Calgary into Upper Kananaskis Lake. This is a unique program, conducted specifically to maximize the survival of stocked fish in this particular lake. Special attention is being given to releasing the fish into cold, deep water to improve their chances of survival.

The 23-centimetre long trout will be trucked to the lake and unloaded, water and all, into specially outfitted whitewater rafts. Full of fish, the rafts will be towed by motorboat, and the fish released into the lake with the assistance of conservation officers and volunteers from BP Canada Energy Company and the Sam Livingston Fish Hatchery Volunteer Society. The rainbows will have immediate access to deep water and be less accessible to illegal harvest.

This innovative approach to fish stocking is made possible through the efforts of organizations like Alberta RiverWatch, which donated the use of the whitewater rafts, and BP Canada Energy Company. In addition to the stocking at Upper Kananaskis Lake, BP employees also volunteer their time to work alongside hatchery volunteers and staff to assist with educational programs at the Sam Livingston Fish Hatchery.

Each year, Alberta Sustainable Resource Development raises between 2.5 and 3.5 million trout for release into publicly accessible water bodies throughout Alberta. The provincial stocking program provides increased recreational fishing opportunities and reduces the angling pressure on native fish populations. Rainbow, brown, cutthroat, bull and eastern brook trout are raised at two hatcheries-the Sam Livingston Fish Hatchery and the Cold Lake Fish Hatchery, and are released into more than 150 lakes, reservoirs and streams around the province.

Media contact:

David DePape
Sam Livingston Fish Hatchery
Alberta Sustainable, Resource Development
Calgary
(403) 297-6589

Brian Lajeunesse
Area Fisheries Biologist
Alberta Sustainable Resource Development
Canmore
(403) 678-5508 (ext. 263)

Dave Ealey
Communications
Alberta Sustainable Resource Development
Edmonton
(780) 427-8636