Three agencies are working together to bring back a fascinating fish that spends almost its entire life in freshwater systems, but returns to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean to spawn and die in the legendary Sargasso Sea.
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| Close up of the head of an American eel. Photo: MNR-2007 COA-Jason Mortlock |
The American eel was once one of the top three commercial fish in the eastern basin of Lake Ontario and the Upper St. Lawrence River. Now, Ontario Power Generation is working with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Fisheries and Oceans Canada to develop and carry out an action plan to restore American eel populations to these areas.
As early as 1974, the Ministry began collecting data on eels and trying to expedite their migration upstream past hydro dams. But eel numbers in the last 20 years have declined to the point they are now listed as endangered under Ontario’s Endangered Species Act.
To monitor restoration efforts, biologists and technicians will trawl for eels and conduct electrofishing surveys in the waters around Mallorytown Landing near Brockville, the Main Duck Islands in the middle of the lake’s eastern basin, and in the Bay of Quinte.
Trawling involves pulling a large fishing net through the water behind a Great Lakes research vessel. To electrofish, trained technicians put a mild electric current into the water to temporarily immobilize fish. Once immobilized, any American eels will be netted and held in a live well so they are ready for biologists to identify, weigh and measure. Then, they’ll be released unharmed into their home waters.
Commercial fisherman will also bring eels captured in their fishing nets to the Ministry’s Glenora Fisheries Research Station near Picton and to facilities near Cornwall. But these fish won’t be released in local waters. Biologists will surgically implant these eels with PIT tags (passive integrative transponders) for release in the St. Lawrence River near Montreal. Here, below all barriers to migration, the eels will have a clear run to the Atlantic.
Some of them, however, may be recaptured near the Gaspé Peninsula. Recapture allows biologists to assess survival rates and the eels’ ability to successfully complete their life-cycle after being tagged and transported to a new site.
About American Eel Restoration...
Historically, the causes of the American eel’s decline in the upper St. Lawrence and eastern Lake Ontario are hydro power development, habitat destruction, pollution and global warming.
- Since 2006, Ontario Power Generation in partnership with the Ministry of Natural Resources has released almost four million young American eels in the Bay of Quinte and in the St. Lawrence River between Gananoque and Brockville.
- Mature eels have been captured and moved downstream of all dams to help them avoid destruction in hydro turbines.
Despite these efforts, since the mid-1990s, eel numbers have declined. Eels in this area are now facing extinction.
Click here to view a map of the project area
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About American Eels...
• The American eel is a native Ontario species, a top predator, and a key indicator of aquatic ecosystem health. Eels help keep other fish species in balance, including invasive species such as the round goby. Eels that migrate into the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario all mature into females that are the largest and most productive individuals of their species.
• Remarkably, all American eels are part of a single breeding population that spawns in only one place in the world – the Sargasso Sea in the Atlantic Ocean. From there, young eels drift with the ocean currents and then migrate inland into rivers, lakes and streams along the eastern coast of North America.
• The eels feed and mature in freshwater for 10 to 25 years before migrating—sometimes up to 6,000 kilometres—back to the Sargasso Sea, where they spawn and die.
Project Partners
- Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada
- Hydro Quebec
- Quebec Ministère des Ressources Naturelles et de la Faune
- New York Department of Environmental Conservation
- New York Power Authority
- Ontario Commercial Fisheries’ Association
- Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources
- Ontario Power Generation
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
For more information, contact:
- Alastair Mathers, Lake Ontario Basin Canada-Ontario Agreement Coordinator, Lake Ontario Management Unit, Ministry of Natural Resources, Picton (613) 476-8733