Tag Archives: eel

Learn about the extraordinary American Eel!

It’s a lizard, It’s a snake, It’s one of the most unique fishes in the world: the American Eel!

Known for their elongated bodies and short fins, these fish which were once very common in North American waterbodies, are now endangered. This is largely due to the presence of hydroelectric dams, which block their natural migration routes, making them unable to reach their breeding grounds in the ocean.

Learn more about their impressive migrations, extraordinary life cycle, and current conservation efforts through this short video.


Kichisippi Pimisi – American Eel

American Eel

Posted 8 March 2014

By: Christine Luckasavitch, Whitney and Area Algonquins

The American eel (Anguilla rostrata) is a remarkable fish that was once extremely abundant throughout tributaries to Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River, including the Ottawa River Watershed. Within the Ottawa River watershed, this species has faced a dramatic 99% decline in population since the 1980’s. The American eel has been apparently extirpated from many parts of its Ontario range and is in serious decline where it still exists. It is now listed as endangered under Ontario’s Endangered Species Act, 2007.

The American eel is known to Algonquins as Kichisippi Pimisi, which means “big river eel”. Algonquin Traditional Knowledge demonstrates that Kichisippi Pimisi is considered sacred to the Algonquin people as it has been an essential part of our traditional culture since time immemorial.

For Algonquins, Kichisippi Pimisi was a provider of nourishment, medicine and spirituality. As Pimisi were once extremely plentiful through Algonquin Traditional Territory, it was one of the most important and dependable sources of sustenance, particularly during long journeys and harsh winters. Pimisi were once so plentiful in our waters that over a thousand eels could be caught in an evening – enough to provide a great feast for an entire village. Pimisi was also highly valued as a trade item with voyageurs or new settlers to the Ottawa River basin.

The skin of Kichisippi Pimisi has incredible healing properties. It was used as a cast or brace for broken bones or sprains and to rid the body of infections once it dried. ATK also suggests that Pimisi skin has the ability to heal sore throats when applied to one’s neck.

Kichisippi Pimisi is a spiritual animal to Algonquins as it is a prayer carrier, travelling great distances through the waters. Kichisippi Pimisi is revered as a mystical creature as it would “disappear” into the earth each winter, “mud-balling” into the lake or river bed and hibernate over the winter months.

As many rivers throughout Algonquin Traditional Territory are no longer free-flowing, the presence of Kichisippi Pimisi has faced such a dramatic decline due to man-made barriers on our waterways. Our younger generations no longer hold a connection with this sacred animal. It is vital that Kichisippi Pimisi be restored to its historical range throughout the Ottawa River Basin, including the South Nation, Mississippi, Bonnechere, Petawawa, Mattawa and Madawaska Rivers and other tributaries in order to re-establish the ancient connection between Algonquins and Kichisippi Pimisi.

The cumulative effects of eel mortality during outward migration are truly devastating. Hydroelectric facilities, reduced access to habitat imposed by man-made barriers throughout waterways, commercial harvesting in jurisdictions other than Ontario, contaminants and habitat destruction, alteration and disruption are amongst the most significant threats to the survival and recovery of Kichisippi Pimisi in Ontario.


American Eel Recovery Strategy – Public Campaign

golbe-american-eel-585-mfk-e1393181425507

This EBR Posting is Now Closed for Comment.  Thank you for your Participation!

Eels are probably not something you would like to cuddle up with, but they are an amazing fish in grave danger of totally disappearing from Ontario rivers.  The American Eel is an endangered species that was once abundant in the upper St. Lawrence River, Ottawa River, and Lake Ontario and their tributaries.

Eels were once so plentiful they were an invaluable source of sustenance to First Nations and early European settlers, and more recently supported thriving commercial and sport fisheries. Continue reading


American Eel Recovery Strategy – EBR Posting 012-0405 – ORA Submission

American Eel

Excerpt:

“American Eels were once abundant in the upper St. Lawrence River, Ottawa River, Lake Ontario, and their tributaries, and in fact were so plentiful that they were an invaluable source of sustenance to First Nation communities and early European settlers, and more recently supported thriving commercial and sports fisheries.  This all changed with the advent of a multitude of hydroelectric dams constructed within the historic range of the species.

Key to the American Eel’s survival and recovery is its ability to migrate to its spawning area in the Sargasso Sea, near Bermuda.  This is a perilous journey that only a very small percentage ever complete due to the cumulative effects of the numerous hydroelectric facilities that have killed, maimed, and cut off migration to their spawning area.  Consequently their once thriving populations have been reduced to a mere one percent of their original numbers.” Continue reading


Effects of Dams & Waterpower on River Ecosystems, Fish & Fisheries: Not Green for Fish, by Dr. John M. Casselman, Adjunct Professor, Dept. of Biology, Queen’s University – Presentation to ORA at Annual General Meeting

Download (PDF, 6.68MB)


Dam the American Eels, by Gord Miller, ECO

In Ontario, many rivers and streams have been fragmented by dams and hydro-electric stations, creating substantial barriers to fish migration. For example, Ontario Power Generation (OPG) operates 65 hydro-electric stations and 240 dams on 24 river systems. While hydro-electric dams contribute to Ontario’s energy supply, these structures can have damaging effects on aquatic ecosystems and species. Dams can fragment aquatic ecosystems, create barriers to fish migrating upstream, alter river flow and temperature, and kill fish in turbines during downstream passage.

Dams and hydro-electric stations along the St. Lawrence River, such as the Moses-Saunders Power Dam near Cornwall, are considered a threat to the survival of the American eel (Anguilla rostrata) population in Ontario. It is classified as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act, 2007 (ESA).

Eels have a complex life cycle. They are born, spawn and die at sea, have a single breeding population, and some migrate to freshwater to mature. The eel has a vast range on the western side of the Atlantic Ocean from Venezuela to Greenland and Iceland. They migrate great distances throughout their life stages, some travelling as far as 6,000 km. The species’ native Canadian distribution includes all fresh water, estuaries and coastal marine waters that are accessible from the Atlantic Ocean. Juvenile eels (elver) migrate through the St. Lawrence River to Lake Ontario, where they mature into silver eels and migrate back to the Atlantic Ocean, to spawn in the Sargasso Sea. More than 25,000 dams block the eels’ freshwater range, from Florida to Ontario.

Eels are an important fishery worldwide, for both Aboriginal traditional use and as a commercial fishery. Eels are harvested at virtually all life stages and in most of their habitats, such as freshwater lakes and rivers, estuaries and marine environments. However, a plummeting eel population forced MNR to close Ontario’s commercial eel fishery in 2004 and the recreational fishery in 2005.

Eels were once abundant in the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario, which by some estimates comprised approximately half the fish biomass in the 1600s. Since the 1970s, the eel population has been declining at an alarming rate and the full causes for the decline are unknown. However, dams have an impact on eel populations in two ways: they restrict access to upstream habitats and cause eel mortality in turbines.

In the St. Lawrence River watershed, over 8,000 dams restrict access to more than 12,000 km2 of freshwater habitat for eels. Two major dams block eel migration from Lake Ontario; the Moses- Saunders Power Dam (which includes the R. H. Saunders Generating Station in Ontario and the Robert Moses dam in New York State) constructed in the 1950s and the Beauharnois dam near Montreal constructed in the 1930s. Both dams were retrofitted with eel ladders in 1974 and 1994, respectively, to facilitate the upward passage of eel migration. Unfortunately, eels migrating downstream are estimated to suffer at least 40 per cent mortality due to passage through turbines.

MNR has monitored eels ascending the Moses-Saunders Dam ladder since its construction. In 1982 and 1983, more than 26,000 eels per day were observed ascending the ladder during peak migration; by 2002, eel passage declined to approximately 55 eels per day. The Lake Ontario Committee of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission issued a statement in 2002 that without management intervention, extirpation of the eel in the Great Lakes Basin is likely and that management actions within the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario should be taken to reduce eel mortality at all life stages and to encourage safe, effective upstream and downstream migration.

In 2007, eels were classified as an endangered species under the ESA. Ontario Regulation 242/08 under the ESA exempts hydro-electric generating stations from the prohibitions against killing and habitat destruction if an agreement is entered into with the Minister of Natural Resources. While all other stations have a three-year grace period to enter into an agreement, the R. H. Saunders Generating Station had one year (until June 2009) to enter into an agreement respecting eels.

In June 2009, the Minister of Natural Resources entered into a 20-year agreement with OPG under the ESA respecting eels at the R.H. Saunders Generating Station. The agreement includes a five-year implementation plan consisting of a trap and transport project (to capture, transport and release large eels upstream and downstream of the generating station), a juvenile eel stocking program (to supplement natural recruitment loss) into the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario, and requirements to operate and maintain the existing eel ladder. Under the agreement, OPG is required to implement and monitor the effectiveness of the implementation plan. MNR will audit OPG at least once a year to review compliance with the agreement.

It is noteworthy that the eel recovery strategy and the government’s response were not finalized prior to this agreement. The ECO believes that the agreement should be amended if necessary to reflect both documents once they are completed. While the agreement appears to mitigate some of the effects of the hydro-electric station on eels (e.g., stocking and transporting eels), it does not effectively address the protection and recovery of eels. For example, the agreement’s pilot trap and transport program superficially addresses safe downstream migration of eels – it artificially relocates eels that may or may not be ready to migrate. An amended, strengthened agreement would emphasize safe, natural migration of eels downstream, such as the installation of bypass structures or altering the timing of operation (turn off turbines at night during migration) to reduce turbine mortality.

Safe and effective natural passage of eels, both upstream and downstream, must be addressed at dams along the St. Lawrence River and tributaries if Ontario’s eel population is to recover. Given these concerns, the ECO cautions MNR in using this agreement as a template for other hydro-electric stations where eels are present. Although the Moses-Saunders and Beauharnois dams have eel ladders to help migration upstream, there are many dams in Ontario with no fish or eel ladders. For example, the Ottawa River is blocked by 12 hydro-dams, none of which are equipped with an eel ladder. Fragmented rivers and streams have damaging effects on the survival of many other aquatic species: dams prevented Atlantic salmon from reaching their spawning grounds, and were considered to be a significant factor in their decline and ultimate extirpation from Lake Ontario.

The ECO believes that MNR should require, through approvals issued under the Lakes and Rivers Improvement Act (LRIA), that all new dams facilitate natural passage of fish by installing fish ladders or other similar structures. In addition, MNR should require all existing dams to be retrofitted with fish ladders or other similar structures to facilitate safe and natural migration along the course of all Ontario’s streams and rivers, through LRIA approvals for improvement or repair to dams.

Read original article here.


EBR 011-7696 – Proposed changes to the Endangered Species Act – FRDA to MNR

FRENCH RIVER DELTA ASSOCIATION
857 Hartley Bay Road
RR 2 Site 10 Comp 4
Alban, Ontario P0M 1A0

January 18, 2013

Krista Adams
Senior Permits & Agreements Specialist
Ministry of Natural Resources, Policy Division
Species at Risk Branch
Permits and Agreements Section
300 Water Street, Floor 2
Peterborough, Ontario
K9J 8M5

Dear Ms. Adams:

Re: EBR Registry Number: 011-7696, Proposed approaches to the implementation of the Endangered Species Act which could include regulatory amendments to authorize activities to occur subject to conditions set out in regulation consistent with MNR’s Modernization of Approvals

The proposed regulatory changes contained in EBR 011-7696 are vague and will not meet MNR’s responsibility to endangered species and their habitat maintenance and protection.
While the ambiguity of this MNR and provincial cabinet’s proposal will serve MNR’s and cabinet’s partners in the mining, energy, forestry, and aggregate industries, it will not meet the primary purpose of the Endangered Species Act which is to protect endangered and threatened species and their habitats required for survival.

It is intriguing to note that the spring 2012 budget proposed amendments to the Endangered Species Act. These proposed exemptions – circumvention of permitting requirements, and removal of deadlines for recovery planning – faced serious public opposition and the budget amendments to the ESA were dropped. To now reposition the budget amendments as regulatory changes, which require only cabinet approval, is irresponsible, misleading and shows the continuing disrespect that cabinet and the MNR have towards the public, and as importantly, endangered species and their habitats. Continue reading