With the fishing season kicking off in southern Saskatchewan today, there will be a few restrictions in place.

According to the provincial government, the following guidelines are in place:

  • Follow all travel advisories and self-isolation requirements;
  • Adhere to any municipal, First Nation, Provincial, and Federal closures of parks and other infrastructures; and,
  • Check ahead to make sure that any park or other recreation site is open.

The Ministry of Environment's Conservation Officer Service is continuing to operate across the province.

And while the fishing season will go ahead as relatively normal as possible, Executive Director of the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation, Darrell Crabbe, says there is some fallout to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

"We operate the provincial walleye spawning program and that was cancelled this year which is very unfortunate. It happens out at Buffalo Pound lake and the decision was that we would not have a spawn camp for 2020 and that we would ramp it up in 2021, perhaps with a secondary spawn camp".

Crabbe goes on to say that walleye grown in the camp are transported to lakes across the province. And while the news is unfortunate, it shouldn't impact the program too much.

"We only stock them [provincial lakes] every second or third year. Provincially about 50-60 lakes are recipients of the fish that grow in the camp. We're looking at developing a walleye rearing pond that would take those fry and actually grow them into fingerlings, which have a much higher success rate of those fish making it to maturity, or catchable size."

Fry refers to juvenile fish that have reached the age where they are able to feed themselves. Crabbe says the site for the rearing pond will be at Buffalo Pound as well.