August 15, 2025
The week began with the crew being refreshed on the procedure for electrofishing. Equipment was calibrated and tested, making sure everything was ready for the upcoming fieldwork. Once everything was set up we headed off to do our first stream with the help of Rebecca from the PEI Watershed Alliance. Got lots of fish and set the bar for the rest of the week.
The next day electrofishing began early to beat the scorching heat. We got two spots done for the day before the heat started overwhelming us. We were finding that there was a mix of brook and rainbow trout in our streams but higher up on the systems there were less rainbow trout or sometimes none. We were happy to see this as the rainbow trout is an invasive fish species which often outcompetes native brook trout and salmon.
The third day was like the day before trying to beat the heat and get two sites in the day to meet our goal. This time we didn’t have as much rainbow in the streams which is a good sign for our brook trout. This day though we were hoping for a big brook trout as of last year we got our biggest one, sadly there were no big ones but was still a successful day.
Thursday went straight into electrofishing. It was a smooth day as at this point everyone in our crew had a good handle on all the jobs we did. We made sure everyone got around to each job either: netting, bucketing, measurement, or water quality.
The final day came and finished up our final two sites. These streams didn’t have as much action as the past electrofishing days but was still a good working day. A good sign to end the electrofishing week was all the brook trout that we were finding.
It was a well productive week pushing through the heat was the hardest part but in the end we met our requirements with hard work but also fun memories.
Quick reminder that our Swim for the South Shore is this weekend and there is still time to register!!! We’d love to see you there.
Love, SSWA
