Trout struggling to breathe in Alberta's warm rivers and streams

The bull trout are particularly susceptible to high water temperatures in Alberta's rivers and streams. Alberta Environment / Calgary Herald archives

Trout struggling to breathe in Alberta's warm rivers and streams

Colette Derworiz, Calgary Herald, Aug 17, 2015

As the province closes streams and lakes in southern Alberta to fishing, scientists say the high temperatures in the waterways could still be deadly for some species — particularly trout.

Officials with Alberta Environment and Parks have closed more than 18 fisheries in the past week to protect fish populations in areas with water temperatures rising as high as 24 Celsius from the normal 15 to 18 C.

It’s the first time in recent memory that streams and rivers have been closed for temperature-related reasons.

“Considering some of the extremely hot temperatures that we’ve seen this summer, combined with extremely low flows of our flowing waters, we’ve taken the step of closing angling in some streams where we think the impact of even catch-and-release fishing on fish populations could be problematic,” said Paul Christensen, senior fisheries biologist with Alberta Environment and Parks.

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