Fish & Fish Habitat
See also items listed under
Water Quality.
Information on Fish and Fish Habitat
in the Woodens River system
Asterisked documents (***) contain Water Quality data.
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Focus on fish & fish habitat*** (PDF)
The January 2011 issue of WRWEO's newsletter, WRWEO WATCH, offers an overview of issues relating to fish and fish habitat in the Woodens River system.
In an essay entitled "Where have all the mayflies gone"? Bob Chambers examines possible explanations for the precipitous decline of the spring mayfly in 1989/90 and the near simultaneous decline of the brook trout populations.
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N.S. 2014 Angling Regulations
The Woodens River system is a Catch & Release Special Trout Management Area:
The following lakes in Halifax County will be catch and release only:
Birch Hill Lake, Blueberry Lake, East Duck Lake, Five Island Lake, Five Island Lake
Run, Frederick Lake, Holland Marsh Lake, Hubley Big Lake, Jacket Lake, Lizard Lake
and Sheldrake Lake and Woodens River (downstream from the outflow of Hubley Big
Lake, including all lakes and tributaries). Single hook lure or artificial fly, natural bait is
prohibited.
- Fishing Woodens River
A page on Pat Donoghue's website: Nova Scotia Fly-fishing, Tying and Tall Tales. See also Requiem for the Mill Pond. These pages describe some of the history of trout in the Woodens River system and the challenges they face.
A section of the lower Woodens River in July |
- An integrative approach to prioritizing aquatic habitat restoration sites in the Wooden's River watershed, Nova Scotia***
2007 SMU Honours Geography thesis by Oliver C. Woods. This thesis deals with brook trout habitat in the Woodens River watershed. Posted with permission of the author.
- Woodens River Watershed Resource Analysis (PDF)
1993 report for the Three Brooks Homeowners Association by Elizabeth Tough (Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Environmental Planning Studio 1).
A resource analysis used the overlay technique, which involves
overlaying the various resources, in map form, to define sensitive
areas and opportunities and constraints for maintenance of brook trout
habitat quality in the watershed. The resources considered were Vegetation and Land Use, Soils, Slope Aspect, Surficial Hydrology. Surficial geology, Structural Geology, Slope, Elevation.
An original version with coloured Maps is available at the DAL Sexton Library (TC 426.5 W6 T6 1993). This PDF was scanned from B&W copy.
- Woodens River Compensation/ Restoration Project Site Identification Report *** (WRWEO hardcopy files)
Document prepared by Thaumas Environmental Consultants Ltd, 1 Sep. 2004. It reports on potential for restoration of trout habitat in Woodens River Watershed. Includes photographs, water quality data, discussion of Sheldrake Lake.
- Report on Perch in Long Lake (Woodens River) (PDF)
2010 report by Cathy Munro & John MacMillan (Nova Scotia Fisheries and Aquaculture).
- Brook trout population parameters from angling catch from Big Five Bridge and Moores Lake, 2004. Summary of Initial Results***
Report by Tara Crandlemere (Nova Scotia Fisheries and Aquaculture)
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Five Island Lake Remediation
Five Island Lake was contaminated by PCBs in 1994 and a cleanup was subsequently conducted.
- Jacques Whitford/Stantec Reports
- Community Presentation Slideshow of 2008 Fish Monitoring Report - Feb. 27, 2008 (PDF)
- 2007 Fish Monitoring Results (PDF)
- 2008 Fisheries Resource Study, Woodens River Watershed, Nova Scotia ***(PDF)
A report on PCB levels in fish of the Woodens River system which have been monitored subsequent to a PCB contamination event discovered in the mid-1990's. This report includes, as well, data on lake pH levels.
- 2009 Stantec Report on Biological, and Supporting Water Quality Studies, Woodens River Watershed*** (PDF)
"The purpose of the work was to assess general environmental quality (as represented by water
chemistry), and the biological condition of selected lakes (as represented by the benthic invertebrate
communities present in the spring, and observations of brook trout spawning areas in the fall…The benthic invertebrate study results and spawning survey information are intended to complement ongoing
studies related to the presence of PCB contamination in Five Island Lake, and the general population status
of brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) in the Woodens River watershed."
- Introductory and Advanced Habitat Survey of the Woodens River Watershed***
This study, conducted in 2000, employed three youth to carry out baseline habitat and water quality studies of streams throughout the Woodens watershed. The document provides data on a variety of stream habitat variables (amongst them: vegetative cover, pH and invertebrates).
- Trout Nova Scotia
2013: Unfortunately, this valuable organization has folded. However, the two documents cited below have been copied onto other websites.
- Fish Habitat & Electrofishing Results for Sheldrake Lake Tributary
Pages from the Highway 113 EA,
- How are the mayflies doing
Posting on WRWEO website
Provincial Documents
These documents address fish and fish habitat issues for Nova Scotia at large, but do not address the Woodens specifically.
- A culvert survey of the St. Mary's River, Huysborough County, Nova Scotia, assessing and piriorizing culverts as obstructions to fish passage. (doc file type, 25 MB)
Report by Sean C. Mitchell, St. Mary's River Association Technical Report #008 (2010).
This report provides a very informatives review of impacts of culvert construction on fish passage and results of a comprehensive study of culverts on the St. Mary's River system with photographs, maps statistical compilations.
- Nova Scotia Dept. of Fisheries and Aquaculture: Sportfishing
- Nova Scotia Trout Management Plan (2005) (PDF, <1 mb)
Final Draft, Nova Scotia Department Of Agriculture And Fisheries, Inland Fisheries Division, Fall 2005. This document includes, amongst others, sections on habitat classification. habitat loss and overexploitation, habitat enhancement, special management areas.
- Species Fact Sheets
Factsheets for 19 species in Nova Scotia lakes and rivers.
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Nova Scotia Environment Erosion & Sedimentation Control Handbook for Construction Sites (PDF: 4.3mb)
- Population indices of brook
trout (Salvelinus fontinalis), Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), and salmonid competitors
in relation to summer water temperature and habitat parameters in 100 streams in
Nova Scotia
MacMillan, J.L., D. Caissie, T.J. Marshall, and L. Hinks. 2008. Can. Tech. Rep. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 2819: 41p
Available at www.gov.ns.ca/fish/sportfishing/reports/
macmillan_et_al_2008.pdf
- Nova Scotia Adopt-a-Stream Program
N.S. Fisheries and Agriculture program. From the 2009 Report:
During the past five years, 30 community groups have accessed project funds and technical advice through
the Adopt-A-Stream program resulting in more than 556,000 square meters of restored
aquatic habitat over a linear distance of more the 111 kilometres as well as riparian area
restoration and improved fish passage in dozens of watercourses.
The program is administered by the N.S. Salmon Association.
- Trout Nova Scotia
- Natural History of Nova Scotia (N.S. Museum)
Selected Papers from the Scientific Literature
- Bartholomew, A & Bohnsack, J.A. 2005. A review of catch-and-release angling mortality with implications
for no-take reserves. Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries (2005) 15: 129 -154. Available at http://www3.carleton.ca/fecpl/pdfs/Bartholomew%20Review.pdf
- Catling, PM et al. 1986. Aquatic plants of acid lakes in Kejimkujik National Park, Nova Scotia; floristic composition and relation to water chemistry. Canadian Journal of Botany 64(4): p 724-729. Abstract
- Dale, JM et al. 1985.
Acidity and associated water chemistry of amphibian habitats in Nova Scotia.
Canadian Journal of Zoology63(1): 97-105. Abstract
- DuBois, R.B. & Dubielzig, R.R. 2004. Effect of Hook Type on Mortality, Trauma, and Capture
Efficiency of Wild Stream Trout Caught by Angling with Spinners. North American Journal of Fisheries Management, 24:2, 609-616. Abstract
- Halfyard, E.A., J.L. MacMillan and R.J. Madden. 2008. Fecundity and Sexual Maturity
in Select Nova Scotia Trout Populations. Unpublished report. Inland Fisheries Division,
Nova Scotia Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture. Pictou, Nova Scotia.
PDF
- Hurley, G.V., Foyle, T.P. & White, W.J. 1989. Differences in acid tolerance during the early life stages of three strains of brook trout, Salvelinus fontinalis.
Water, Air & Soil Pollution 46 (1-4): 387-398. Abstract
- Kerekes, J. et al. 1994. Fish-eating bird abundance in oligotrophic lakes in Kejimkujik National Park, Nova Scotia, Canada. Hydrobiologia 279-280(1):57-61. Abstract
- Jones, M.W. et al., 2001. Low genetic variability in lake populations of brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis): A consequence of exploitation? Conservation Genetics 2: 245-256. Abstract
- Roy, A.H. et al. 2003. Habitat-specific responses of stream insects to land cover disturbance: biological
consequences and monitoring Implications. Journal of the North American Benthological Society 22: 292-307. PDF
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Smokorowski, K.E. & and Pratt, T.C. 2007. Effect of a change in physical structure and cover on fish and fish habitat in freshwater ecosystems - a review and meta-analysis
Environmental reviews 15: 15-41. Abstract
- Stewart, C.C. and Freedman, B. 1989. Comparison of the macrophyte communities of a clearwater and a brownwater oligotrophic lake in Kejimkujik National Park, Nova Scotia. Water, Air, & Soil Pollution 46(1-4): 335-341 Abstract
