A new study is looking at how hydro dams and other industry affect lake sturgeon in northern river systems. It's part of a long-term partnership between Moose Cree First Nation and Wildlife Conservation Society Canada. A new study is looking at how hydro dams and other industry affect lake sturgeon in northern Ontario river systems.
"These rivers are super rare globally and also very important to the people that use the river in the Moose Cree homeland," said Claire Farrell, science and youth co-ordinator with Wildlife Conservation Society Canada, and lead author of the study. To conduct the study, researchers tracked 22 adult sturgeon over a six year period using non-invasive tags put into the stomachs of the fish and acoustic receivers in the river that would ping a sturgeon's location. The practice is known as acoustic telemetry.
"And then the other finding is really just emphasizing the importance that lake sturgeon are thriving and moving in an intact system," said Farrell.Farrell said they will compare the results of their findings in the North French River with those of another study they're conducting with Moose Cree First Nation in the Mattagami River, which is a more hydro-electrically dammed river.