Conservation Initiative

[Lunker Larry]

  The Ottawa Riverkeeper has championed an initiative to help save the American Eel in the Ottawa River.  This amazing creature has been all but wiped out as a result of damming the river over the last 60 years or more.  The American Eel starts its life in the Sargasso Sea. The leaf-shaped eel larvae drift on North Atlantic currents for up to one year before reaching coastal waters. They then metamorphose into a life stage where they are transparent and are called glass eels making their way up the St Lawrence to the Ottawa River. The few that make it past the dams live in the river for 10 years or longer. ALL the eels in the Ottawa river become female and when migrating back down river to get to the Sargasso sea to spawn less than 1% survive the turbines of the Carillon Dam. The American eel has only one single breeding population. If they are declining in one area, even if declines are not evident elsewhere, the population overall will be in further decline. It is of concern that the recruitment of eels in the Upper St Lawrence River and Great Lakes in Canada has declined by over 99 percent. 
    The Carillon dam is slated to undergo $750 million dollars of renovations, offering a once in a lifetime chance to incorporate modifications that would give the eels a chance to move around the dam to restore their numbers.  Here's a link with information about why this opportunity should not be missed: https://www.ottawariverkeeper.ca/a-ladder-at-carillon-could-save-the-american-eel/?mc_cid=a512683cb9&mc_eid=a025aaacf6

Please consider taking a few seconds to add your voice to those calling for an eel ladder to be included in the planned renovations.  Follow this link to sign the petition: https://www.ottawariverkeeper.ca/what-we-do-2/issues/endangered-species/the-american-eel/eel-passage-at-carillon/?mc_cid=a512683cb9&mc_eid=a025aaacf6

Edited February 17, 2021 by Lunker Larry