CAMP

Community Aquatic Monitoring Program (CAMP) is run by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and happens in 11 sites around the Maritimes.  What it involves is taking representative samples of fish populations in specific areas and keeping track of what is found where.

A pipefish-relative of the seahorse!  It has the same head shape.  It was a pleasant surprise to find lots of these in a couple of the sample areas,as they used to be very rare.  

Trout River is fortunate to have been a part of the program for many years and this year is no exception.  Once a month, reps from DFO and TREC (and any interested community members!) get together, throw a big net out into the water, drag it in and count the bounty.  Since it was my first time and it was a BITTERLY cold day, I took the job of recording the numbers and I have to say, it was really interesting.

  It was sad to see how much sea lettuce there was in some places so early in the year.  This is something that TREC would really like to see reduced, but it is a very difficult problem to cope with and solve.  The good news though, was that not all sites had sea lettuce.  There were a couple that very nearly completely free of the algae, so it's not all bad news.

  After we count the fish and toss them back in the water, it's time to take a quadrant count of the plant life at the bottom of the river.  Randy, the head of the program for the area, tosses the quadrant out and looks to see what is living down below.  In many cases there were high counts of sea lettuce, but often there was eelgrass or nothing at all.  It was another really interesting aspect of the day.  

Here is the TREC crew hard at work, putting the heavy net back into the container.  Despite the chill, the wind and occasional spit of rain, it was a fascinating day and I would highly recommend anyone to come participate!!

-Sally