Perch, pickerel, bass return to Cootes after carp leave

[Spiel]

Perch, pickerel, bass return to Cootes after carp leave

 

March 18, 2009

Eric McGuinness The Hamilton Spectator

 

Ron Albertson, the Hamilton Spectator

 

 

The burly, bronze-coloured carp thrashed strongly as Melissa Fuller displayed it to a crowd of spring break walkers at the Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG) fishway separating Cootes Paradise from the open water of Hamilton Harbour.

 

"It's basically a big bulldozer that goes through the marsh and wrecks everything," the conservation intern explained as she dumped the carp into a sluice leading back to the harbour.

 

Fish heading from the harbour to Cootes to spawn swim into large underwater baskets that are raised at least once most days, allowing staff to let bass, pickerel, perch, pike and other native species swim into the marsh while diverting unwanted carp and goldfish back to the bay.

 

Only about 50 fish were intercepted in the first three days of this year's operation, but the numbers will increase as spring advances.

 

Aquatic ecologist Tys Theysmeyer says one of the biggest successes of the RBG's Project Paradise marsh restoration project is the resurgence of yellow perch, a popular Great Lakes sport and commercial fish, famous in Port Dover where it's deep-fried and served on platters.

 

"Last year was a really good year for yellow perch, the species we're most interested in because it's a foundation species that has the biggest role to play in restoration of the fishery. It will return to being the most common animal in the RBG and the harbour.

 

"In the fishway's first year (12 years ago), we saw only six. Now we see more than six in each cage lift, and had more than half a million last year, but I won't be happy 'til there are 10 million."

 

Theysmeyer is also pleased to report that, "We've re-established spawning runs of all bass species -- rock, smallmouth, largemouth and white, though there are not a lot of them yet."

 

Low water late in 2007 let RBG staff chase all but a few carp out of the marsh, though a few managed to swim back and more were swept downstream from Christie Lake in meltwater last spring.

 

Fuller told curious onlookers this week that fewer and fewer carp are caught at the fishway each year.

 

"We used to see a lot," she said, "but now it's 75 per cent native species."