CanGro Processors Ltd. denied reports last week that nearly a half million trout had escaped from the company’s fish farm on Saskatchewan’s Lake Diefenbaker.
General manager Robert Hawkins said the number is “way less” than the 490,000, or two-thirds of the farm’s stock, reported by media.
“That’s wrong,” he stated, but declined to reveal the exact number.
He also denied the company will be set back four years because of the accident last month that resulted in the loss. Both the fish and the pens were insured.
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“You can grow fish in two years,” he said.
The company will be able to meet its commitments to customers with trout from its Washington state operation, Hawkins said.
Once repairs are made to the Saskatchewan pens, which were damaged by a combination of wind and ice, they will be re-stocked.
Tom Maher, with Saskatchewan Environment, predicts good fishing for this and probably the next two summers.
Maher said the number of fish is large, but not substantial when the size of the lake is considered. There will be an impact on other species but he doesn’t know how great.
Although trout do eat small fish, they mostly eat insects.
“They will be competing with walleye and pike for other forage fish,” Maher said.
But at the rate anglers are expected to remove trout this summer, the competition may not last long.
“I wouldn’t be surprised to see 100,000 to 200,000 fish come out this year,” Maher said.
CanGro has recaptured some stock – Maher said about 1,000 trout per day for the last couple of weeks – but that will become more difficult as the water warms up and they move deeper.
And the fish have traveled far. About 3,000 were caught about 65 kilometres away from the farm.
The chances these fish will reproduce are slim. Trout are fussy about spawning conditions, Maher said, and trout the department stocks in other lakes virtually never reproduce.
Meanwhile, Outlook-based conservation officer Dean Grisdale said May 19 one person had been charged with having more fish than the legal limit. Anglers are limited to catching, or having in their possession, five trout daily.
“There have been problems and lots of complaints,” Grisdale said.
The two uniformed officers based in Outlook have been investigating. Now that provincial parks are open, more staff are on hand to help.
The increased number of anglers has caused other problems. Grisdale said people are reminded to respect landowners’ property when accessing the lake and not to litter.
“It is disgusting in some cases,” he said.
