| Fish Enhancement Project
Background Information
Fish habitat -- living space for fish -- has declined in most areas since the breaking of the prairies in the last century. Many landuse activities have damaged or destroyed habitat by blanketing spawning sites with silt and clay, polluting water with chemicals and wastes, or blocking fish movements.
Habitat enhancement seeks to reverse the trend by opening up new habitat or repairing and improving what we already have. it takes many forms, from installing shoreline fencing and building instream cover, to creating fish ponds and aerating lakes for over-wintering fish.
Enhancement applies to lakes and streams, rivers and ponds, even hay meadows and sloughs -- any place that offers the basic elements of food, shelter, and water that the fish need at some time during their life cycle. While the government can supply provincial and federal programs to assist in funding and technical expertise, many enhancement projects are conducted by groups and individuals across Canada.
Fish habitat enhancement projects follow a series of phases, from identifying the problem to monitoring the solution. Here's how the phases look for an imaginary project to give some idea of a typical sequence of events:
- Problem
Members of a Wildlife association were concerned that the Lake Green dam on the Green River was keeping fish from reaching good upstream habitat.
- Proposal
The association submitted a funding proposal to Saskatchewan Environment and Resource Management and the Environmental Enhancement Group to build a series of rock weirs below the dam. The weirs would form a series of "steps" up to the dam, allowing the fish to swim past the Green Lake dam.
- Review
Saskatchewan Environment and Resource Management reviewed the proposal in light of funding criteria and technical and economic feasibility. It conducted a reconnaissance survey and used the results to refine the association's design so that the rock weirs would also serve as good walleye spawning habitat. Specifications for materials, erosion protection and sediment control were added to the original proposal.
- Construction
The weirs were built in the fall when water levels were low and fish generally suffer the least disturbance. Local field stone was used wherever possible -- a low-cost source of stone that farmers are happy to offer. Volunteers met with fisheries staff to coordinate the effort, equipment and scheduling. A biologist was on site to offer assistance and guidance for minimizing the impact on fish habitat of sediment released during construction.
- Evaluation
The spring following construction of the weirs was time for the volunteers to assess their efforts. Monitoring of the number of fish that make it over the dam during peak spawning migrations was part of the evaluation of the project. The fisheries department collected and counted walleye eggs as a complementary evaluation technique.
Activity - Fish Enhancement Project
Materials: copy of habitat problems, paper, pens, pencil crayons
1. Read the background information.
Ask yourself:
- Is there a fish habitat area that you are aware of in need of improvement? If not, read through the list of habitat problems provided and choose one of these for your project.
- What is the problem and is there a reasonable solution?
- Is the solution something you and others would be able to take on as a project?
2. Familiarize yourself with the steps involved in fish habitat enhancement projects. Working on your own or with a partner:
- complete a preliminary project proposal by completing the first two steps of the project. If you are using one of the problems provided, you must rewrite the problem (in your own words) for step 1.
- submit your project to another student (or group), representing the Department of Environment and Resource management for step 3. Share the ideas generated from step 3.
- together, write-up the construction plan and evaluation plan for your project.
3. Discuss the ideas of generated from the various project proposals. Is there one particular plan which you and your class can put into practice?
Extensions
1. Draw and label the construction phase of your proposal; include a before and after diagram.
2. Research the types of habitat projects currently underway in the province. Is there any way you might be able to contribute to ensuring healthy fish habitat?
3. Contact Saskatchewan Environment and Resource Management, Fisheries Branch to find out how the last ten fish habitat projects fared in their evaluation.
4. Develop a 'Fish Habitat Protection' group within your school or community to increase awareness of the need for healthy fish habitat.
Evaluation
- Look carefully at your proposal. Is it complete and can it be 'put into action'?
- Explain to others the importance of healthy fish habitat. What are five things you can do to help protect the province's waterbodies, without leaving your home?
Problems in Fish Habitat
- A marsh in central Saskatchewan is used by pike during spring spawning. By early summer, the water levels drop to such an extent that fingerlings can not get back to the lake via a creek leading to the marsh.
- A fast flowing stream has unstable banks and a series of low flow years combined to reduce the quality of fish habitat in the creek.
- A small stream is located on pastureland. The creek could be improved to support trout even though there is no trout fishing in the surrounding area.
Fisheries Activity - Habitat
Enhancing Fish Habitat - Teacher Version
Objectives
- to develop a fish habitat enhancement project
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