If all goes as planned a new partnership between the city, the Assiniboine Watershed Stewardship Association (AWSA), the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority and the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation (SWF) will bring an urban fishing area to Yorkton.
"The SWF has been involved with this project since its planning stages with the hopes of establishing an urban fishery in conjunction with your Logan Green project for the benefit of the citizens of Yorkton and surrounding areas," spoke Adam Matichuk, project coordinator during a presentation to council Monday evening.
There would be three key goals behind the project he says; one, to provide a habitat for fish which will most likely be trout as Matichuk says they are the most suited for such a location. The second being to stock the fish and the third, to improve angler access.
It will take time he adds, likely one to two years but it's a project that can work he believes and one that will be of benefit to both residents and the environment.
"We've been the voice for anglers in Saskatchewan since 1929. We've got about 30,000 members in 120 branches across the province. Per capita, that makes us the largest conservation organization of this kind in the world."
The SWF also offers a number of wildlife, fishery educational programs and that's another potential in the future for the Yorkton project says Matichuk.
"Needless to say, this project really fits in with our priorities." One such priority being to create new fisheries within urban areas.
"The idea is to expose people who might not have the opportunity to go fishing to the chance to get into the sport."
As such, Matichuk says for the past year the SWF has been looking at the feasibility and doability of this particular concept for Yorkton.
A plan has since been developed, with some work and testing already underway and the SWF says the concept can work.
"I went by this morning and could see there was some algae developing. To the average person that doesn't mean much but to a biologist that's good news. That's the building blocks of life. To know that this was just bare ground a few months ago, it's good to see this is already growing."
Looking forward, Matichuk says there will be work to be done. A leak in the pond needs to be repaired before anything else and then the habitat must be developed. After that stocking and monitoring would follow.
"It will take some time to establish a fishery. You don't just throw fish in and expect to be fishing the next day... but it is very achievable.
"And then further down the road, if this all goes as planned, I can see the potential to develop educational programming for the public and for school kids...
"We're committed to seeing this project through to the end... if for some reason the fishery aspect didn't pan out, you would still have a beautiful little ecosystem..."
