Keeping Steelhead Rainbow Trout in the Saugeen River For Future Generations
The Graham Sustainability Institute and Michigan Office of the Great Lakes are providing approximately $50,000 to each of four U.S. and Canadian research teams to identify and evaluate adaptive responses to changing Great Lakes water levels. During the 18-month Integrated Assessment project, the teams will work with shoreline communities to assess localized solutions and to provide insights for the Great Lakes basin more broadly.
More information: http://bit.ly/22lzuRU
Just an update to the rabies situation that is taking place right now in the Hamilton area. 5 cases have been determined positive by the Wildlife Research and Monitoring Section (WRMS) and Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) as of right now. Additional testing is ongoing and it is possible we will have additional positive cases. Attached is the most recent mapping from WRMS of the cases and how they are managing the situation.
We have not had a positive case of raccoon strain rabies in Ontario since 2005.
Right now we are outside of the surveillance perimeter but that could change if additional cases start to encroach the lower portions of Grey Bruce.
Mitigation that is taking place is the distributing of the ONRAB oral vaccine by hand baiting within urban areas and flying the twin otter over the rural areas. This has been a very productive approach in Quebec to eliminate rabies, hopefully that will be the case in this situation as well.
As we all witnessed, spring came early to Grey & Bruce Counties, bringing with it some fabulous runs of rainbows. Unfortunately shortly after, we experienced very low water conditions occurring much earlier than ‘normal’. Low flows left many fish stranded throughout the landscape with the combined effect of significantly less nursery habitat available to the year class of 2012.
On the brighter side, in early June MNR Fish & Wildlife Technician Dustin Veenhof placed Temperature loggers at 4 different locations on the Beatty Saugeen (Concession 12, 14 + 16 and below the dam at Orchardville). Loggers record and store temperature readings every hour.
For the most part these temperatures suggest the main Beatty Saugeen River is suitable for brown trout and even better for rainbows. Remember this in the context of one very hot summer with very low flows, these results are very encouraging! As with all fish species, environmental factors play a huge roll in annual recruitment.
Low water levels also allowed the completion of phase 2 of Maple Hill fishway. Although rainbows did navigate this fishway in the spring, recent improvements should increase effectiveness. The current stop logs allow for adjustment of water heights through-out the fishway. Once observations are complete and fine tuning occurs, concrete will replace hemlock stop logs.
MNR is still on course for the placement of temporary cameras on the Walkerton and Maple Hill fishways to monitor next spring’s migration.
Early indicators suggest more exceptional angler opportunity on the Saugeen this fall! Enjoy!
Jody Scheifley Fish & Wildlife Technical Specialist Ministry of Natural Resources Owen Sound
