An Evaluation of Population Monitoring Methods for Arctic Grayling in Alberta
Quantifying the efficiency of different Arctic grayling survey methods.
Do to an estimated 70% decrease in abundance in Alberta from historical levels, Arctic grayling are a candidate for assessment by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada to determine if they should be listed under the Species At Risk Act. To better understand Arctic grayling’s status, an understanding of their distribution and abundance is necessary. To address this, this project is studying how successful common sampling methods (angling, backpack electrofishing, and snorkel surveys) are at capturing and detecting Arctic grayling, so that appropriate survey methods and catchability estimates can be used to estimate population sizes.
Teams survey the Swan River Watershed with both angling and backpack electrofishing methods.
Selina Walters officially begins her Master’s project at the University of Calgary.
