THUNDER BAY — The conservation group behind efforts to improve rainbow trout and other fish populations in and around Thunder Bay says work is scheduled for this summer to better the fish ladder just below the Boulevard Lake dam.
The structure was constructed in the early 1990s, said Frank Edgson, the treasurer of the North Shore Steelhead Association and project manager for the Current River Improvement Project, adding that the scheduled work is intended to make the existing structure more efficient.
“We don't think that the fishway is functioning as well as it could, and to that end, we hired consultants to evaluate the existing fishway in terms of modern day fishways,” he said.
“And they found some inconsistencies and made some recommendations that we thought we could endeavour to change or fix.”
Those changes to the existing concrete structure will include redirecting water as is comes out of part of the Current River dam to create a more concentrated flow down the fish ladder, creating openings in the ladder walls to allow for a less tiring migration corridor for the fish, and — in order to improve data collection and monitoring — the installation of fish counters and other monitoring devices.
Fishways, or fish ladders, are structures that allow river-migrating fish to travel upstream past a barrier, like a dam.
“There was no fish counting and there was no efforts to identify how many fish and under what flow conditions were ideal for the fish to use the system,” Edgson said of the lack of data available from when the ladder was first built.
“So, it's always been a bit of a question mark as to whether or not fish actually use the ladder and how many fish use the ladder and under what conditions do they migrate.” The organization says there is no recognizable run of rainbow trout (also called steelheads) in the Current River.
The project has received funding through a variety of sources, including Environment and Climate Change Canada, the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund, the MNR, as well as local stakeholders.
The monitoring goal, he said, is to see whether fish make it all the way up, enter Boulevard Lake and migrate further upstream.
Overall, the steelhead association wants to create an urban fishery for rainbow trout on the Current River, although Edgson said they also want to know more about, and improve passage for, any fish that use the structure.
“We hope to learn a little bit more about the rainbow trout population and under what the flow rates are best suited for migration,” he said. “The city has the ability to raise or lower the electronic gate that control (water) flows into the fishway.”
“So it would be to our benefit, and the city's benefit, to understand more about what it takes to make that fishway work properly.”
The work, to be done by KEM Construction, is slated to be done between July and August, Edgson said.
