IN THE FIELD WITH WARREN!
Hear from Warren Iserhoff (our Environmental Youth Coordinator this spring) as he describes his experience in the field working on the Mattagami and North French Rivers!
My first opportunity to work on the Mattagami River to study the sturgeon fish species was in the fall of 2016 with a group of aquatic technicians from North/South Consultants who had come from Winnipeg Manitoba, a fantastic and hard-working dedicated people. We set many nets in different areas along the river and would check them the next day. This was the fun and exciting part, being paid to catch fish and learn about them at the same time. When a fish was caught, I was shown the steps it takes to weigh and measure them and to also insert a PIT tag into the sturgeon fish and to carefully remove a small piece from their pectoral fins and store them in vials to be sent off study labs for research. Each sturgeon caught was later released back into the water safely. Not only did I learn how to catch and handle sturgeons for research, but I was also able to learn a lot about the sturgeon fish species and I was more than happy and grateful to have this opportunity because I have created many great memories in a short amount of time that I still carry with me to this day.
Summer of 2023, I gained another opportunity to work on the sturgeon species again on the North French River by Moose Factory Ontario. I worked with a group of people from Wildlife Conversation Society Canada (WCS Canada) from Thunder Bay Ontario that have created a partnership with Moose Cree First Nation to help study the sturgeon fish population. This time it was different compared to my first time in 2016. We travelled out to the North French River to work on receivers that track all tagged sturgeon that go up and down along this river. We had a number of receivers placed in the water. I had the privilege to work alongside a fellow from WCS Canada named Jacob Seguin, a hard working, motivated and very disciplined person, nothing was able to stop him from getting the job done. He was a great teacher who showed me the ropes on how to retrieve anchored receivers that were at the bottom of the rivers. I was shown everything from pulling up retrievers, transferring data onto a work laptop, replacing batteries and cleaning receivers, changing stainless cables if needed, and sending the receiver back into the water while working as a team. I learned that great teamwork and communication is key when it comes to this type of field work. Having Jacob in my corner only made the job feel a lot more exciting and it was enjoyable to have him as a patient, knowledgeable, strong leader and a great teammate worker. It was very interesting and amazing to see this side of the sturgeon study project. I enjoyed my time learning more about sturgeon fish and I had a lot of fun. It has always been a good time being out in the rivers for fieldwork to meet new people and create more memories. I look forward to more of it!
