MANITOULIN—The annual visit of students from the College Boreal Fish and Wildlife Program and their professors to Manitoulin Island, to receive hands-on electrofishing training, took place two weeks ago. The training is conducted in collaboration with Manitoulin Streams Improvement Association (MSIA), which utilizes the students’ work to gather essential baseline and post-restoration data at various project sites on Manitoulin.
“The first stream they electro-fished was Norton’s Creek on the Bidwell,” said Seija Deschenes, coordinator of MSIA. “This stream is one of our earliest restoration sites and is stocked with Brook Trout every year. As a cold-water stream fed by springs it is the perfect habitat for Brookies and a number of other species. We even had help from one of our Youth Rangers who was lucky enough to get the day off school and join us in our field work.”
In total, “assessments were conducted at four sites across three streams on the island. Each assessment consisted of 50 metre sections of the stream systems,” Liam Campbell of MSIA explained. He pointed out one site was on Norton’s Creek, a site on Blue Jay Creek, an area slated for restoration activities in the coming year. The final two sites were located on Grimesthorpe Creek, the focus of this summer’s recent restoration work.”
“These assessments provided valuable data on fish populations, with multiple species recorded at each site,” said Mr. Campbell. “The team was joined by Manitoulin Streams Youth Ranger David Joyce, a local environmental enthusiast, who bargained for a day off from school to contribute to the project.”
“This collaboration highlights the importance of field-based learning and community involvement in local conservation efforts, contributing to the ongoing restoration and preservation of Manitoulin’s waterways and ecosystems,” said Mr. Campbell.
The fish found and assessed at each site included (with some of the minnow species taken back to College Boreal to be identified by students. There were 17 brook trout in Norton’s Creek, 23 in Blue Jay Creek, and 10 found in Grimesthorpe Creek Site 1; 57 rainbow trout found in Blue Jay Creek and 17 in Grimesthorpe Creek Site 1; 146 Creek Chub in Norton’s Creek, 10 in Grimesthorpe Creek site one and two in Grimesthorpe Creek site two. A total of 15 Stickleback were found in Blue Jay Creek, 65 in Grimesthorpe Creek site one and 11 in Grimesthorpe Creek site two; 99 sculpin in Blue Jay Creek and nine in Grimesthorpe Creek Site 1; five mudminnow in Blue Jay Creek, 59 in Grimesthorpe Creek Site 1 and 20 in site 2; three pumpkinseed in Grimesthorpe Creek Site 1 and six in site two; one coho salmon and one Chinook salmon were found in Blue Jay Creek; two white sucker in Norton’s Creek; two unidentified minnows in Norton’s Creek, three in Blue Jay Creek, 10 in Grimesthorpe Creek Site 1 and 15 in site 2.
The work carried out by the College Boreal students and MSIA was done with financial support from the government of Canada Environment and Climate Change.
