CHÉTICAMP: A smolt wheel installed in the Chéticamp River is assisting researchers from the Atlantic Salmon Federation (ASF) in collecting vital data on Atlantic salmon populations. The organization is advising members of the public to exercise caution when in the vicinity of the equipment.
Regional Director of the Wild Salmon Watersheds Program at the ASF, Kris Hunter said the initiative, which will run until June 30, is part of a broader effort to proactively protect and monitor wild salmon stocks across several provinces.
“My region is what we call the healthier part of the range of Atlantic Salmon,” Hunter explained.
Chéticamp and Margaree are the southernmost study sites in Hunter’s jurisdiction, which also includes locations in New Brunswick and Newfoundland. The Federation is employing a variety of methods to assess salmon production levels in the Chéticamp River.
“Because if these systems are doing well then, they should be producing a lot of salmon. So, we go out and measure that, then we can really see how well they are working relative to what they could be,” Hunter said. “And that lets us know how they’re doing, but also allows us as we try different methods, to measure and follow, then we can see the benefit to what we’re doing is.”
The smolt wheel was installed in early May near the Cabot Trail Bridge. A smolt is a juvenile salmon undergoing physiological changes as it prepares to transition from freshwater to saltwater.
“Basically, the salmon are heading to the ocean, to go out and feed and get bigger,” Hunter said. “And then once they spend one to three years in the ocean they will come back and repeat the cycle.”
The smolt wheel functions as a rotating cone driven by the river’s current, gently capturing migrating salmon smolts in a live well for study.
“It just sits in the river and as they’re swimming downstream, it guides them into that live well that we can check every day,” Hunter said. “We check everything we catch. We record it and anything that’s not a salmon smolt we let go and if it is a salmon, we bring them to shore.”
Once brought to shore, the fish are temporarily anesthetized, tagged, measured, and released upstream. This process helps assess the river’s productivity and monitor migration patterns over time.
“So, we can figure out how many fish are going into the ocean,” Hunter added. “And when that fish comes back as an adult, if they pass by one of our scanners we know that we caught that fish two years, released it as a smolt and now it’s back. And we can then see how it’s grown and get all sorts of information about how long it was in the ocean and its survival.”
The device is considered safe, and its location is marked with appropriate signage and cabling. While Hunter encourages people to avoid close contact with the equipment for safety reasons, he welcomes public interest and curiosity.
“We’re out here every day and people can stop by and ask us questions and watch us process the fish,” he said. “Mostly it’s just letting people know why it’s here, what it’s for and to have a little safety common sense.”
Hunter acknowledged the significant time and coordination required to launch a project of this scale and expressed gratitude to local organizations and partners, including the Chéticamp River Salmon Association, the Margaree Salmon Association, the Inverness South Anglers Association, Parks Canada, and others.
“We’ve had great support and interest in it and it’s really exciting to see other people get excited about this work too,” Hunter said. “And we’re getting good numbers; that’s always a challenge when you’re doing these things. So, this is working out really well.”