THROWBACK THURSDAY: LAKE STURGEON TAGGING JUNE 2022

By: Claire Farrell

Ever look back and wonder: what was I doing 4 years ago today?

For many years the Learning from Lake Sturgeon project has been monitoring namewak (lake sturgeon) in Kit Aski Nahnuun (the Moose Cree Homeland). 4 years ago the Learning from Lake Sturgeon team was tagging namewak in the Mattagami River in June.

If you are wondering what tags can teach us — head on over to our older post: WHAT SOUND CAN TEACH US ABOUT NAMEWAK

Ever wonder what steps are involved in fieldwork to tag lake sturgeon?

Let’s do a throwback thursday to June 2022 to find out!

STEP 1: Pack a truck with all your fieldwork needs: no space can be wasted!

STEP 2: Set up camp and make sure you cook a yummy dinner!

STEP 3: Travel in boats to find the perfect place for namewak netting — led by community experts!

STEP 4: Deploy nets — namewak are resilient, and compared to other fish, they do much better in nets. We use large mesh sizes when we net to make sure other fish aren’t caught or harmed when we have nets in the water!

STEP 5: If namewak are caught, sample and tag them quickly, to make sure they are put back in the water as soon as possible. We try to have a big team: and everyone has a job!

STEP 6: Make sure everything is recorded and written down: even when the bugs are super bad!

STEP 7: Release namewak back in to the river! All namewak that we tagged are released back in to the river and tracked for years to come!

STEP 8: Make sure to take a team picture and celebrate a job well done together!

STEP 9: Pack the truck back up: even with a very tired field-dog JD.