July 7, 2017 at 4:55 pm
[caption id="attachment_2419" align="alignright" width="344"]
The Allagash Wilderness Waterway Ranger staff helped throughout the project.[/caption]
By IFW Fisheries Biologist Frank Frost
Fisheries Division biologists from the Ashland Region recently ended a one year project on the Allagash Wilderness Waterway where we evaluated the brook trout population. We focused work on Big Eagle and Churchill Lakes and fish passing through the Churchill Dam fishway. In all, we handled nearly 1,500 brook trout in trapnets set at both lakes and through the fishway in 2016 and 2017. It's clear from the work over the past two years that the trout population on this section of the Waterway is very robust.
One item of interest to note is that we also found there is significant movement of fish between the lakes, and from the lakes through the fishway in both the summer and fall. Some trout that spawn downstream of Churchill Dam spend the winter there and return to Churchill and Big Eagle Lakes for the summer, likely to take advantage of more abundant forage.
[caption id="attachment_2420" align="alignleft" width="352"]
IFW fisheries biologist Derrick Cote weighs a fish at the fishway at Churchill Dam on the Allagash River. IFW biologists and Bureau of Parks and Land staff checked the fishway periodically in order to capture biological data that will be used to make fisheries managment decisions on the Allagash Wilderness Waterway.[/caption]
The Allagash Wilderness Waterway Ranger staff helped throughout the project.[/caption]
By IFW Fisheries Biologist Frank Frost
Fisheries Division biologists from the Ashland Region recently ended a one year project on the Allagash Wilderness Waterway where we evaluated the brook trout population. We focused work on Big Eagle and Churchill Lakes and fish passing through the Churchill Dam fishway. In all, we handled nearly 1,500 brook trout in trapnets set at both lakes and through the fishway in 2016 and 2017. It's clear from the work over the past two years that the trout population on this section of the Waterway is very robust.
One item of interest to note is that we also found there is significant movement of fish between the lakes, and from the lakes through the fishway in both the summer and fall. Some trout that spawn downstream of Churchill Dam spend the winter there and return to Churchill and Big Eagle Lakes for the summer, likely to take advantage of more abundant forage.
[caption id="attachment_2420" align="alignleft" width="352"] IFW fisheries biologist Derrick Cote weighs a fish at the fishway at Churchill Dam on the Allagash River. IFW biologists and Bureau of Parks and Land staff checked the fishway periodically in order to capture biological data that will be used to make fisheries managment decisions on the Allagash Wilderness Waterway.[/caption]Categories