Fish researcher shares big catch
'One of the greatest range extensions of a fish in modern history,' says biologist
John McFadden
Northern News Services
Friday, July 22, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Every avid angler has a tale about the one that got away but one Yellowknife fish biologist's story is about the fish that did not get away.
Yellowknife biologist Paul Vecsei talks about his discovery of a Pygmy whitefish he netted while doing research on Bluefish Lake four years ago. - |
PhD ichthyologist Paul Vecsei related his rare find at Ecology North's Science for the People lunch bag lecture series at the Good Company Building, formerly the Union of Northern Workers building.
"I know they are Pygmies but I have to prove my case to the world. I am claiming there are Pygmy whitefish in Bluefish Lake which would be one of the greatest range extensions of a fish in modern times. Pygmies should not be in this area," Vecsei said.
"I know my fish like very few people do."
No one had ever reported catching such a fish in this area until Vecsei did last year in the Canadian Field Naturalist journal, he said.
The employee of the environmental engineering company, Golder Associates, was relating his story Tuesday about the six Pygmy whitefish he netted while doing field work for the NWT Power Corporation on Bluefish Lake near the power corp's hydro dam, about 25 kilometres upstream from Great Slave Lake.
The mini version of the popular eating fish has been found near Great Bear Lake, northern Alberta, the Yukon, B.C., Alaska and in Lake Superior but never in the Great Slave Lake area. He caught the fish in 2012.
"What I look at are the goings-on the different fish species that migrate to Bluefish from Prosperous Lake or all the way from Great Slave Lake ... and make sure from year-to-year that there is a normal run and that spawning takes place," Vecsei said.
"We started seeing things that were weird, different. We pulled up a net and in it were a bunch of small (whitefish) that anyone else would have dismissed as juvenile whitefish."
Vecsei said he knew that was not the case when one of the fish was ripe with eggs when it was caught, proving to him it was an adult fish.
After Vecsei had done his research showing the eggs were fewer in number - about 300 compared to several thousand - and larger than those of regular whitefish he realized he had made a unique find which, he said, was something scientists live for.
Vecsei said the last time a proper scientific survey of species in Great Slave Lake was in the late 1940s and no Pygmy whitefish were recorded.
He also said no one can say for sure exactly how the Pygmies got into Bluefish Lake.
Vecsei called it unfortunate there is no funding available to advance his study further.
"I would have a very hard time justifying doing net sets at Bluefish when the focus is no longer assessing the species diversity in Bluefish Lake," said the fish biologist. "I would like to. There is no better place than the North - and this area near Yellowknife is still on the forefront of exploratory ichthyology which is what I am into."
Vecsei said the Pygmy whitefish has not been added to the NWT's endangered species list because, as far as he knows, it is not endangered. There is no way of knowing exactly how many of them are out there, he said.
Aside from his fish biology work, Vecsei is a world-renowned underwater fish photographer and fish illustrator.
He became hooked on fish while fishing on lakes near Montreal where he grew up.
Ecology North spokesperson Jennifer Broadbridge said this is the first year of the Science for the People lunch bag lecture series although they have had similar events in the past.
She said it has gone over very well, so much so that she expects they will have to move to a larger location next year.
She added the idea behind the event is to offer everyone, not just experts, a chance to learn something new over their lunch hour.
The next lecture is Aug. 2 but exactly who will speaking has yet to be determined, Broadbridge said.
