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Brenna Gagliardi, Prof. Steven Cooke and Jordanna Bergman

ing pressure from the growing population of cottagers and “It takes a lot of time, but this is what you need to do to
communities — and people who fish — along its banks. We start to change things,” says Bergman. “That one fish you
know that fish swim through locks, she says, but we don’t tag could help thousands of other fish. I love doing science
know to what extent, nor whether the movement is sea- for the sake of science, but I also want to make a difference
sonal or for reproductive purposes. We don’t know much and leave the world a little bit better after my short time
about why, when and how fish travel through locks because here.”
nobody has studied these questions in this part of the world Pursuit of this ambitious goal begins with grunt work.
before. Which is why, with about $1 billion of infrastructure With pre-dawn wake-up calls and long days in the rain or
work scheduled for the Rideau over the next 10 years, Cooke wind or sun. With talking to “stakeholders” from diverse
sees an opportunity for “conservation gains” that balance walks of life. With learning how to pilot a boat and manage
environmental and economic priorities. gear in challenging and changing conditions. With figuring
Northern pike are a particularly mobile species and a out how tiny details relate to the big picture. All of this gives
prized gamefish, part of a recreational angling industry students an important crash course in juggling multiple
that generates about $2.2 billion in Ontario every year. Are responsibilities, and at the same time, instils a powerful
certain lock structures and operations more conducive to bond with the animals and environments that they got into
their health? Are there ways to support native fish while science to understand and protect.
limiting the spread of invasive species such as common Standing near the bow of the boat, Brenna Gagliardi
carp and round goby? And what do local fishers, cottagers casts her hook a few dozen feet with the flick of a wrist and
and lockmasters think about all this? These are some of the begins to reel in her line. The goal today for both crews is to
questions that Cooke, his collaborators and students hope land 15 pike for acoustic tagging, with any bass they hap-
to address. Ultimately, what they discover might not only pen to catch getting external tags. But because pike, like
help safeguard the health of the Rideau system but also most fish, are crepuscular, or more active at dawn and dusk,
provide strategies for managing other waterways through- the steady rate of bites earlier this morning has slowed to a
out the world. trickle by noon.

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