insane new Quebec regs

[tweedwolfscream]

(03-24-2014 11:03 AM)Dropshot Wrote:  Yet again another display of blatant stupidity in part of our ministry... They seem very power hungry... One rule I'd love to see enforced is "All Catch and release" in Urban areas... I know a lot of people have been wanting that but the Ministry just shrugs it off.. Too hard to enforce probably.. Easier to pick of people fishing on a frozen lake...

Why catch and release only in urban areas? Many urban harbours have healthy fisheries with relatively little fishing pressure, in part because of misconceptions about either the health of the waters or the contamination issue. Here in Toronto the warm water fish communities along the various lakeshore marinas/bays/harbours are a far cry from any risk of depletion and in most cases are fit to eat. Eating fish from the local lakeshore is an opportunity for connection with nature that urbanites don't get as much as country folk. I've so far eaten one perch and one pike from Frenchman's Bay, and both were delicious (especially the pike). Actually the GTA muncipalities and conservation authorities are trying to get more people into urban fishing, and I don't think setting limits of 0 would help that.

Having said that I don't see why enforcement is an insurmountable area to creating C&R only zones. Such zones exist in other areas, as do slot sizes and species with a 0 limit.

Also, it's not "our ministry", it's Quebec's.

Getting back to the original issue. My French isn't great but when they say "La fermeture de la pêche d’hiver à toutes les espèces sur les lacs à touladi", does that necessarily connote ALL lakes with a lake trout presence, or could they just mean certain key lake trout lakes? They'd have to list the closed lakes one way or another, can't expect people to just know where there are lakers.