The Margaree Salmon Association in northern Cape Breton has been utilizing electrofishing to monitor fish populations in the Margaree River over the past few years. This method involves using an electric current to temporarily stun fish, enabling crews to safely capture, measure, and identify them before releasing them back into the river.
Michael Fabiano, the association’s conservation co-ordinator, mentioned that electrofishing operations take place from May to late September with a low mortality rate of two percent among the thousands of fish processed each season. Safety of the fish is a top priority, and electrofishing is avoided when water temperatures are too high.
To ensure safety while working with electricity in water, crew members wear heavy rubber gloves and chest waders. Current levels are adjusted to stun fish for only a brief duration to minimize harm. The survey covers various locations along the 120-kilometre river to determine the most productive streams and evaluate overall fish health, with trout and Atlantic salmon making up about 95 percent of the catch, along with occasional eels and lampreys.
This season, the association has captured and released around 1,800 fish across nine streams, a decrease from the previous year. Paul MacNeil, the association’s president, explained that they intensified their scientific research due to reduced data collection by Fisheries and Oceans Canada in the past five years. The association collaborated with the Chéticamp River Salmon Association to acquire electrofishing equipment. While members also conduct fish counts by swimming in the river, electrofishing provides more precise data on juvenile fish populations.
MacNeil emphasized the effectiveness of electrofishing in capturing juvenile fish within a specific area accurately. The initiative aims to maintain reliable data for tracking river health amidst changing climate conditions in the region.