Taking Stock - Students Reel In Spawning Survey

A group of Lester B. Pearson High School students is learning how to be Mother Nature's eyes on the Elbow River in southwest Calgary.

The students will take over the annual brown trout spawning survey now that the three-year program conducted by the City of Calgary Waterworks is ending.

"This is a new experience for me," said grade eleven student Elias Hassoun Wednesday during a break in the 10-kilometer trip down the river in a rubber raft. "It's helping me understand the riparian (river-bank) ecosystem."

Hassoun and four other students earned the trip down the Elbow River with their science teacher Cal Kullman and Golder Associates fisheries biologist Chris Bjornson after writing essays about the outdoors.

"Everyone would like to see the survey continue with high school students," said Kullman.

The lower Elbow has been identified as a major brown trout spawning area by Alberta environment, said David Fernet of Golder Associates, who is supplying environmental consultants to train the students. The trout spawn in the river in November and full-grown fish can weigh up to 20 pounds when they reach the Bow River.

The Elbow River empties into the Bow across from St. Patrick Island near 8th Street. Fishing in the Bow contributes $4-5 million annually to the local economy, said Fernet.

The mean depth of the Elbow River is less than a meter, which means the trout can sometimes have trouble finding good spots to spawn. The river is largely at the mercy of the Glenmore Dam, which controls the water level in Glenmore Reservoir.

The students are looking for fish "redds", tiny telltale white spots in the river where female browns lay their eggs, then bury them with gravel.

The trout appear to be doing well. A survey about 15 years ago counted only 80 spawning beds, while last year's survey turned up 280.

"We're still leaning an awful lot," said Fernet. "This doesn't cost the government anything and the kids get to learn."

Simon Ham, a raft guide with RiverWatch, an educational program run by the non-profit group Beyond Books, said aside from the learning experience the students are making a meaningful contribution to the ecosystem. "We teach them about water quality. They see there are fish in the river and they're thriving."