The Province is calling on local anglers to help collect data on cutthroat trout in Comox Lake and earn free fishing tackle along the way.
Government staff are attaching orange tags to 200 adult cutthroat in the lake. Each tag has a four-digit identification number on it along with the phone number for the ministry's regional Fish and Wildlife office in Nanaimo.
Anglers who land a tagged fish should contact the office, to provide basic information including date and time of catch, and whether the fish was kept or released. The data will help inform a review of fishing regulations and of the Province's management of cutthroat populations in the lake.
Everyone who calls in a catch report gets a $20 gift card that can be redeemed at a local tackle shop.
Staff will be tagging trout until early in 2017. The results will inform decisions about fishing regulations and cutthroat management.
The Province is working in partnership with the Freshwater Fisheries Society of B.C., and the Courtenay and District Fish and Game Protective Association, a local volunteer organization.