By Courtney Markewich

Angling license levy keeping fish population healthy

Sep 7, 2014 | 8:27 AM

paNOW Staff 

Anglers in Saskatchewan can now be assured that the entirety of a 30 per cent levy they pay on their license will be dedicated to keeping the province's fish population healthy.

On Friday, the province announced a trust agreement had been signed between the Ministry of Environment and the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation (SWF). The agreement includes the SWF taking over the staff and fisheries program through the Fish and Wildlife Development Fund.

“We've been negotiating this for a number of years,” explained Darrell Crabbe, executive director of SWF, saying there are essentially two reasons why.

“We've had a number of occasions where the government of the day raked money out of the fund and then we had to, using public pressure, get them to pay it back.”

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With the transfer of the fund, Crabbe says anglers can be confident that the money goes towards the fish hatchery east of Echo Valley Provincial Park which helps augment fish populations across Saskatchewan.

The other motivation SWF had to sign the deal came because a lot of federal and corporate grants for fisheries aren't available for provincial programs.

“We saw that we were unable to access a lot of these funds that we could use to enhance, expand and renew our hatchery facility.”

The staff at the hatchery near Fort Qu'Appelle will remain unchanged, and will continue to determine stocking rates for Saskatchewan's fish. However, Crabbe said, the administration responsibility will be handed over to SWF. Day-to-day operations will be transferred over the next several months.

Crabbe says there are about 250,000 people in Saskatchewan who take part in fishing.

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