The Carillon dam, operated by Hydro-Québec, is the first obstacle encountered by migrating juvenile eels on their way up the Ottawa River, upstream of the Lake Deux-Montagnes. Similar to Beauharnois, a lock adjacent to the power station is the only possible migration route in the area.
In 2001 and 2010, AECOM was commissioned to assess the abundance of juvenile eels at the foot of the power station and to describe the upstream behavior of these fish. To achieve this, eel traps, made with AECOM climbing substrate, were installed below the dam and captured eels were tagged with an electronic tag (PIT tag) so they could be monitored.
AECOM returned in 2021 to assess the density of migrating juvenile eels and the extent of their movements downstream of the dam, as well as locating eel concentration sites using the same methods used in previous studies.
In 2023, AECOM was again selected to carry out a behavioral assessment using telemetry. Fifty juvenile eels were captured using eel traps, fyke nets and electrofishing downstream of the power station. Captured eels were then fitted with an acoustic transmitter and a PIT tag before they were released. A network of 34 acoustic receivers deployed downstream of the power station enabled movements to be tracked.
The following tasks were performed to deliver these projects:
- Fabrication and installation of eel traps
- Installation of fishing gear and electrofishing
- Development of a tagging protocol, in collaboration with MELCCFP and Carleton University
- Tagging eels with PIT tags and surgically implanting acoustic transmitters
- Morphometric measurements of eels
- Deployment of acoustic receivers and analysis of collected data
- Collection of temperature and luminosity data
- Drafting of study report
