Georgian Bay fish study bridges Indigenous and western science-based knowledge.
by Roger Klein
Biologists have established that the spread of dreissenid mussels (zebra and quagga mussels) in Georgian Bay has resulted in dramatic changes to the lake’s ecosystem. The declining number of lake whitefish is also well-documented according to Arunas Laskauskas, a management biologist with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry’s Upper Great Lakes Management Unit.
“In Southern Georgian Bay, where we monitor fish communities with a survey netting, we haven’t seen any substantial reproduction of lake whitefish in almost 20 years,” Laskauskas explains. “We are trying to figure out the impediments to their survival.”
Lake whitefish have been the backbone of the commercial fishery on Lake Huron for more than 100 years. It’s a critical species for Indigenous communities in the region for food security, culture and economics.
Unravelling the complexities of what’s happening in the deep-water ecosystem of Georgian Bay is now the focus of a collaborative, multi-year research project by the Saugeen Ojibway Nation (SON), Parks Canada’s Fathom Five National Marine Park and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry.
This joint initiative, called Together with Giigoonyag, bridges Indigenous and western science-based knowledge systems through a two-eyed seeing approach. Giigoonyag, pronounced “gi-go-yag,” means “fishes.”
The research includes larval fish and plankton surveys, as well as the mapping of spawning shoals based on SON ecological knowledge. The Great Lakes Acoustic Telemetry System (GLATOS) is a state-of-the-art research tool that is also being utilized to monitor fish movements. The telemetry system uses transmitters that are surgically implanted into wild fish. The transmitters broadcast sound pulses that are detected by an array of receivers deployed on the lake bottom.
Fifty tagged whitefish and 40 lake sturgeon are being monitored. Lake sturgeon is another species of scientific interest relative to TC Energy’s proposed pumped storage project in Meaford. The Great Lakes-Upper St. Lawrence River population of lake sturgeon is classified as threatened.
