Re-Creating Québec's Chateauguay River Chapter
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Volume 20, No. 2 urrents Spring 2014 Trout Unlimited Canada’s national newsletter CONSERVATION UPDATES NEWS FROM NATIONAL C MORE AWARD-WINNING CHAPTERS Re-creating Québec’s Chateauguay River Chapter by Thibaut Millet rout Unlimited Canada was founded in filled with brook trout and later, brown trout. were still holding on in the Chateauguay’s Montréal, Québec in 1972. Despite its In the 1970s and ‘80s the river was stocked tributaries as well. T birth in “La Belle Province”, the organi- by government agencies, and became popular The headwaters of the Chateauguay and zation no longer had an active chapter there with many anglers. The Chateauguay’s relative most of its important tributaries arise in the — until recently. Thanks to the leadership and proximity to the largest urban concentration Adirondack Mountains of upper New York Chateauguay brown trout. Thibaut Millet photo. vision of Stan Usakowski, the formation of a in Quebec made it particularly attractive. State. The river flows north and reaches Qué- new Chateauguay River Chapter in 2012 has As funds dwindled, the stocking programs bec near the town of Athelstan. It receives brought TUC back home to its roots. The new stopped in the late 1990s. Crowds disap- several small tributaries on both sides of the chapter’s objectives are conservation and en- peared, believing “Since they don’t stock any- boarder, most of which hold trout, providing hancement of the Chateauguay River — a gem more, there are no fish left.” critical rearing habitat. Its “trout” (coldwater) located less than an hour south of Montreal, This couldn’t have been further from the section in Quebec is not long — only a few close to the US-Québec border. truth — a thriving, and quite discreet popula- kilometers from the border to near the town Stan spent his childhood fishing the Cha- tion of brown trout, now completely wild, had of Huntingdon, where the Chateauguay trans- teauguay and its tributaries, which were then established itself in the river. Some brook trout forms into a warm water fishery. Our mission: To preserve, protect and restore... 1 Re-creating Québec’s Chateauguay River Chapter Stan’s vision is to restore the Chateauguay and its tributaries to their former glory as a healthy ecosystem and a vibrant sport fishery. Stan’s vision is to restore the Chateauguay • Ensure outreach to local landowners and session will enable better decision-making. and its tributaries to their former glory as a communities in order to garner support for The survey program will continue. healthy ecosystem and a vibrant sport fishery. the chapter’s work, and reinforce the sense • In the fall 2012, a spawning survey was con- That’s why he created the Chateauguay river of stewardship from local stakeholders; ducted in the main River. Not a single redd chapter, thus “re-establishing” Trout Unlim- • Carefully plan for, and launch rehabilitation was discovered, suggesting that spawning ited Canada’s presence in the province with a work — for which there are ample opportu- probably occurs upstream in NY State and/ new, active chapter. nities throughout the watershed. or in tributaries. In a short period of time, Stan’s relentless Since 2012, the Chapter has been active • A few fishing days were organized on the dedication created a base of dedicated passion- conducting the following activities: river for members and non-members alike ate Chapter members. • Survey boxes were installed along the River to promote the river and the Chapter. The The chapters’ key objectives include: for anglers to provide critical information fishing days also attracted new members. • Develop a monitoring program to better as- about their catch, allowing a better charac- • A change in regulations has been proposed sess the health and challenges of the eco- terization of fish population dynamics. Two to the Ministère du Développement durable, system; years’ worth of data in the chapter’s pos- de l’Environnement, de la Faune et des Thibaut Millet photos. 2 Our mission: To preserve, protect and restore... Parcs. The idea is to reduce fish har- vest by strategically designing three stretches of the river as limited har- vest or catch-and-release areas. Stan toured the watershed with three people from the Ministry in the last week of October. They visited all the small streams and the main river at numerous places. The Ministry still classifies the Chateauguay as a warm water fishery. The goal of the tour was to overturn this classifica- tion to a salmonid fishery. From all indications there was a keen interest by them to create a trout fishery. The Ministry has also forwarded docu- mentation on different programs that the Chapter could take advantage of and expressed interest in promot- photos. TUC ing projects for the river next year. If catch-and-release trout regulations the Anglers Roost Fly Shop in Pointe-Claire tional members paying dividends for the trout were implemented on the Chateauguay, this and TCB International Inc. (Stan Usakows- in the process. would be a first on Québec’s public waters. ki) has been funding the chapter activities. The Chateauguay River is a wonderful wa- • In order to create awareness on the future • In the short term, some tributaries have tershed providing habitat to wild trout less catch-and release section, Chapter member already been evaluated for potential early than an hour away from three million people. Mike Yeomans designed a specific catch and rehabilitation work. Its recreational potential has largely been un- release sign. Lifetime member Wye Yoshida, In the coming months and years activity derestimated along with its potential for con- paid approximately $10K for the image’s continues on and around the river. The hope is servation and rehabilitation work. production work. Mr. Yoshida will be do- that the renewed visibility will bring in addi- nating the image to the chapter. The image now needs to be trademarked as a potential revenue stream for the Chapter should other organizations wish to adopt the image. • A temperature monitoring project be- gan in 2013. Twelve thermometers were strategically located along the main channel and the tributaries to better understand the effect of physi- cal alterations (dams), identify main sources of groundwater discharge which helps keep the river cool in sum- mer and stable in winter. The chapter retrieved 10 of the 12 thermometers placed in the river and tributaries in November 2013. Due to high water level fluctuations this past summer, many of the units were buried under 5-8 inches of gravel requiring a diver and metal detector to recover them. • The chapter will be turning to ad- ditional corporate sponsors. To date, Canada’s freshwater ecosystems... 3 What’s Going On? Important developments in coldwater conservation, by Jeff Surtees 3. Habitats must be large, contain upon when making habitat decisions. These various habitat types, and be of nine principles and the policy recommenda- good quality as defined by dy- tions reflect agreement amongst a respected namic chemical and physical group of scientists who have dedicated their characteristics. lives to fisheries management. Some of us who 4. Habitats must be connected to spend a lot of time on streams tend to develop, support fish throughout their life shall we say, fairly strong opinions about what cycle. should be done to protect or enhance oppor- 5. Fish health is dependent on tunities for anglers. If our own opinions about watershed scale processes, and what should be done do not fit with these therefore can’t be managed by fo- principles and recommendations, we might cusing on individual water bodies. want to rethink them. 6. High biodiversity — both within 1. Environmental Reviews, 10.1139/er-2013- and between species — makes 0038. The full paper can be accessed at this aquatic ecosystems more resilient address: http://nrcresearchpress.com/doi/ to stress and able to use energy abs/10.1139/er-2013-0038#.UuvYhvldWSr more completely. The authors are Nicolas W.R. Lapointe, 7. Beyond the watershed scale, fish Steven J. Cooke, Jack G. Imhof, Daniel Bois- are impacted by longer term clair, John M. Casselman, R. Allen Curry, changes in temperature and pre- Otto E. Langer, Robert L. McLaughlin, cipitation associated with climate Charles K. Minns, John R. Post, Michael change. Power, Joseph B. Rasmussen, John D. Reyn- 8. Each of the preceding effects acts olds, John S. Richardson, and William M. TUC’s CEO Jeff Surtees. TUC photo. cumulatively — rather than in Tonn. t TUC we want to be involved in AC- isolation — on fish populations. 2. Sarah Boon’s excellent summary can be ac- TIONS that lead to habitat being rescued. 9. These cumulative effects are resulting in cessed at http://www.cdnsciencepub.com/ ABut sometimes it makes sense to step rapid changes in fish evolution. blog/its-not-just-about-the-fish.aspx back and think about how we decide what to Anyone who is making decisions which af- do. What are the “key principles” that should fect fish and fish habitat MUST understand govern our actions? Once we figure those out, these principles. Policies which ignore them Planning should be done at an what should we do next? all are most likely going to fail. It was in that spirit that Jack Imhof, TUC’s Among other things, the authors recom- National Biologist and Director of Conserva- mend that fisheries management plans should ecosystem level. Whenever we tion Programs, recently teamed up with a include protection of habitat and biodiver- group of respected fisheries scientists from sity. They point out baseline data and ongo- across Canada to write a paper called Prin- ing measurement of the right things over long face uncertainty and risk, we ciples for ensuring healthy and productive freshwa- periods of time are critical.