News Archive
Fishing for Knowledge
Something fishy has been going on at Shawnigan this week.
Environmental Science 11 students — with the help of a couple of Grade 12 classes — have been studying the aquatic population of Shawnigan Lake, performing an assessment of the lake’s fish stock and biodiversity.
Grade 12 classes put nets in the water for 24 hours — in two locations: one shallow and one deeper — pulling them up on Wednesday morning, then removed the fish from the nets. The following day, Grade 11 classes weighed, measured and dissected the specimens, noting the detailed information, including species and sex.
The dissection process isn’t for everyone, science teacher Ms. Laura Robson acknowledged, but some of the hesitant students come around.
“There’s always a couple kids who weren’t into it before but realize they like cutting them open and seeing the layout of a fish,” she said.
Marcus H. didn’t need to be converted. A self-described “big fisherman” since the age of five, Marcus has plenty of experience catching and filleting fish, skills that translate well over to the dissection process.
“Obviously some people are icked out, but I feel like everybody is fascinated,” he said. “Especially with the one (a big rainbow trout) that had parasitic worms in it. Everybody was interested in that.”
The assessment helps ascertain what types of fish are present in the lake. There are endemic populations of rainbow and cutthroat trout, but those species are also stocked for pleasure fishing. The endemic populations consist of male and female fish, while the stocked fish are typically a third sex called “triploid,” bred in a hatchery without sex organs so that they won’t breed with the native populations.
Also present are coho salmon, which were introduced in the 1970s, although they have usually left the lake for the ocean by this time of year, and kokanee salmon, a form of the sockeye salmon that lives its entire life in freshwater, although it is unknown if Shawnigan Lake’s kokanee were trapped in the lake naturally or introduced. Bass were definitely introduced to the lake, probably by sport fishers, as were perch, possibly as live bait for bass fishing.
The School has been performing the fish assessment since 1997, as close as possible to the same time every year in the interest of consistency, as populations change throughout the seasons. The data is reported to the provincial government, and this year it will also be shared with the Shawnigan Basin Society. In addition to the science aspects, students learn a number of other skills through the study, including driving boats and working together.
We acknowledge with respect the Coast Salish Peoples on whose traditional lands and waterways we live, learn and play. We are grateful for the opportunity to share in this beautiful region, and we aspire to healthy and respectful relationships with those who have lived on and cared for these lands for millennia.
Shawnigan Lake School is an independent co-educational boarding school for ages 13 –18 on Canada’s beautiful Pacific Coast. Our diverse, interdisciplinary and innovative programming helps shape the next generation of global leaders.
