East River Elver Abundance Study
The East River is located in Chester, Nova Scotia and is home to the American eel. Adult eels leave freshwater rivers to travel to the Sargasso Sea where they spawn. Young American eels, called elvers, are produced and then travel up the eastern seaboard back into east coast rivers to mature.
An Elver Abundance Study was completed during the 2008 field season by BCAF as a continuation of research that was conducted by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) in the late 1990s. The study will continue on for the 2009 and 2010 elver runs. The purpose of this project is to determine the abundance of elvers and recruitment of larger eels on the East River. Current data can be used to compare against DFO’s results to determine if population numbers have changed. There is an intense commercial elver fishery on this river as well. This could result in overexploitation of the elvers since there is still a lot unknown about this species and its population.
The trap designed to capture the elvers uses water flow to lure the eels as they are attracted to the current. Small ramps with flowing water enable the elvers to climb up and be flushed into a holding box. Elvers primarily run at night and are influenced heavily by the tides; therefore traps are checked and emptied every morning. Researchers remove and measure the total mass of elvers in each trap and conduct biological sampling on individuals. Once measured, the elvers are released further upstream from the falls. The elver abundance study started the beginning of May and wrapped up in the middle of June, with the large runs of eels almost completed. The next few field seasons have the possibility to starting earlier and running until mid July.
For more information please contact BCAF at (902) 624-9888 or email info@coastalaction.org.
Last Modified: Sun, Jun 29, 2008
