Welcome! BCIT students and instructors performing an expanded study

Those who follow the blog will know that a group of our residents, under the direction of Marge Sidney from the Ministry Of the Environment (MOE), have been monitoring the waters of both the main lake and the little lake for the last three and a half years. Over that time we have accumulated a lot of information on the temperature, oxygen concentration, nitrate and phosphate levels and the specific conductivity. Samples have also been taken using predetermined criteria that permit identification of the plankton and phytoplankton living in the lake. We have done a minimum of 12 samples per year from ice off to ice on. We have not done any sampling during the winter months nor have we gathered any information concerning the fish.

On Monday March 2, 2015 through to Wednesday March 4; a group of students and instructors from the British Columbia Institute of Technology, directed by Marge Sidney, will come to Lac Le Jeune to perform an expanded study under winter conditions.  In addition to what we have been doing, this study will include catching fish under the ice, aging them, sizing them relative to their age, examining stomach contents, and observing what parasites they might be subject to. The bottom of the lake will be dredged in several places, which will permit evaluation benthic sediments in terms of the number and types of organisms residing there and the nutrient and minerals that are sequestered there.

Plankton, phytoplankton and invertebrate organisms will be collected from several sites around the lake using special vertical and horizontal traps. Since these are the organisms which make up the base of the food chain, information on the types present and their numbers is invaluable to maintaining a viable fishery.

The group will also carry out the same profiles we have been doing which will give information on the winter conditions that we were unable to do. We are most fortunate to have BCIT do this comprehensive winter study as it will add greatly to the information we have gathered over the past three and a half years.

Marge Sidney is really hoping that as many residents as possible will come out to witness the proceedings. The most interesting part will probably be the placement of the fish nets early Monday afternoon. There is a shallow set and a deeper set put out through holes cut in the ice with a chain saw. There will be two holes for each set separated by many metres. The nets themselves will be installed between these holes using a special tool called a jigger board. It is designed to crawl from one hole to the next just under the ice carrying the net with it. The nets are left out overnight and retrieved the next day hopefully containing fish. We will scout out areas where fish are numerous prior to deployment.

Hope to see you there, it should be interesting and instructive.

~ submitted by Hugh Burton ~