The article in last week's paper regarding the Agassiz Slough cleaning implied that the slough was dead. While this statement may be true in late August due to extremely low oxygen levels, the rest of the year it is home to many species. For the past four months I have had the opportunity to study the Agassiz Slough and Miami River watersheds as part of my Masters thesis at UBC. Part of my project is to estimate the population size of the endangered Salish sucker and also look at other fish presence and abundance.
In Agassiz Slough I set traps from outside the dyke, all along Tuttyens rRad and along McDonald Road. The Miami River was trapped from McCallum road to the floodgates. In total I caught almost 800 fishes and 40 amphibians in Agassiz Slough and nearly 4000 fishes and 20 amphibians in Miami River, including juvenile salmon and adult trout. I identified about 20 different species in each watershed. The table below highlights some of the interesting species and abundance from each watershed. So next time you wander by or along your local watershed watch to see if you can see fish jumping!
Jill Miners
Agassiz