YOU FIND SOME, YOU LOSE SOME
We have been tracking tagged namew (lake sturgeon) since 2016 with the WCS Canada and Moose Cree First Nation co-created Learning from Lake Sturgeon program. This week, we added another year of data to what we are learning about namew in the North French River, by downloading our underwater receivers that have been logging detections from tagged namew since the we visited them last year for our annual data downloads and battery changes.
We were out on the river early this year, and there was still a lot of ice piled on the banks near the mouth of the North French River!
The North French River is the last intact watershed in the Moose Cree Homeland. In this river, namew are free to move wherever they want in the river, with no dams or other manmade obstacles to block them, and we can use this information about their movement and behaviour both to understand the importance of the North French River for namew, and as a valuable reference to understand how namew are being impacted by development in other rivers.
The last year has been very dry in the Moose Cree Homeland, and river water level was low in the fall. Maybe because of the low water in the fall in winter, we lost quite a few receivers over the winter to the ice, which froze much lower down the river banks than is typical, and caught many of our receivers.
One of the receivers that has been detecting tagged namew (lake sturgeon). The receivers are anchored underwater, and need to be pulled up once a year, downloaded, and have the batteries changed so that they can be redeployed for another year of data collection.
But although we lost quite a few receivers, we also were able to find and download enough receivers to get a lot of new detections from our tagged namew. It was a great trip, with some rainy days, some sunny days, and some windy days. Between the changeable weather and the guessing game about what we would find at each receiver location, there was lots of variety to keep us on our toes!
After the time enjoying the beautiful river, we are now excited to take our downloaded data back to the office, to learn if that low water had any effect on namew movement!
From left to right, Jay Sutherland, Emmett Sack, Haley MacLeod, Kelsie Iserhoff, and Connie O’Connor enjoying the best lunch spot near the waterfalls on the beautiful North French River!