Threats loom over small channel fish

Under the ephemeral fishing village of Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade, which is operating at full capacity for an 87th season, the populations of small fish in the channels have started to decline.

“For the past five years, we’ve been encouraging the release of catches that people won’t eat. The days of mountains of fish around the cabin are behind us,” explains Steve Massicotte, spokesperson for the outfitters.

The release aims to give a chance to small fish that have taken the bait three meters below the icy surface. No less than 97% of the fish captured survive this brief outing in the open air.

Decline over 15 years

If the rise of the small channel fish (the Atlantic tomcod) continues to delight fishermen day and night between December 26 and February 16, a study by the Ministry of the Environment, the Fight against Climate Change, Wildlife and of the Parks published in 2023 mentions “a decrease in the overall abundance of the tomcod stock” since 2009.

According to this study, “the recent abundance of spawners would be close to or slightly below the average values ​​observed since 2010,” explains Daniel Labonté, spokesperson for the ministry.

The explanation for this decline is not specified, but climate change could play a role. Steve Massicotte suspects another possible culprit: striped bass. This fish, once extinct from the St. Lawrence, is now abundant and feeds on organisms living in the seabed, exactly like the Atlantic tomcod.

Variations in the past

“There have always been variations. At the time of commercial fishing, the populations had declined significantly,” relates Simon Leduc, the son of outfitter Mario Leduc, who has been welcoming fishermen for 49 years.

In the cabin n^o 2 from this outfitter, excitement is at its peak as nine fishermen bait their lines with pieces of pork liver and shrimp. “It’s biting this evening, it’s crazy,” says Montrealer Vincent Nantel, whose first experience with tomcod. Antoine Epstein, his roommate, is also delighted with the experience.

In total, they caught around 200 fish in three hours. Now you have to fillet them and cook them.

50 years of commercial fishing

More than 600 million small channel fish spawn each year under the ice of the Sainte-Anne River; the 90,000 fishermen expected this year will catch less than a million.

This population of Atlantic tomcod never makes it to the ocean. She spends her entire life in the Gulf and Estuary of the St. Lawrence.

They are also found in the Batiscan River, about thirty kilometers upstream from Sainte-Anne, but in much lower numbers. “The particularity of the Sainte-Anne River is the frazil, this accumulation of small ice cubes formed in the rapids and which swirl up here. The fish lays its eggs there,” summarizes Steve Massicotte, the spokesperson for the fishing village which has 20 outfitters.

After spawning in January and February, the eggs hatch and the larvae begin their lives in fresh water. The young let themselves be led with the current into the brackish water of the gulf and estuary. They will return as adults, around two years old, to the river where they were born.

Cod’s cousin

This little cousin of the cod which resembles it in miniature with its barbel under the jaw and its caudal line is capable of passing from fresh water to salt water. But unlike salmon, it feeds during spawning, which allows it to be fished.

Faced with the abundance of this resource, commercial fishing for tomcod was allowed in the 1940s, but seeing populations decline, the authorities put an end to this practice in 1992.