West River Integrated Revitalization and Monitoring Initiative: Upper Estuary Restoration, Spawning Habitat Improvement, and Riverwatcher Support

In 2025, CQWF successfully installed Atlantic Canada’s first Riverwatcher system, an important part of monitoring the population and health of Atlantic salmon, as well as other migrating species. In 2026, the system will be installed on the first of May. The main objectives of this project are to compare results to the Dupuis study (1990) and work with DFO to revisit stock assessment assumptions. The new information will assist in understanding population dynamics, community structure and provide an accurate stock assessment.

Beginning in 2026, the Riverwatcher unit will also provide an outgoing smolt estimation. By counting returning adults, outgoing smolts, fall redd surveys, and juvenile electrofishing surveys, all life stages of Atlantic salmon can be monitored, one of the first times this has ever been conducted on a PEI salmon river. This information represents a crucial advancement to the scientific understanding of fish stocks on PEI as a whole and a major leap in the technology that can be implemented to observe adult fish.

The lower river improvement project will involve work on the lower river section from the TCH highway bridge up to the Green Road Footbridge. Brush mats will be installed to help redefine the stream channel. Coarse woody materials (CWM) will be placed to help pinch flows in certain areas, maintaining or creating new holding pools for migratory fish species heading upstream from the lower estuary. Productive cover structures will also be installed. Utilizing a portable winch and come along presents numerous opportunities throughout the entire watershed, including the possibility of installing woody debris that extends into the mid-channel in areas lacking complex cover (e.g., Sweenies above Crosby’s Pond).

CQWF will continue enhancing spawning habitat below the hatchery on the upper West River in Brookvale, where sections of stream habitat are predominantly shale substrate, resulting in spawning habitat that is only intermittently used. Spawning habitat will be improved through the creation of salmon spawning beds and the addition of high-quality spawning substrate. This has proven effective in the lower river, where similar work has previously been performed.

Juvenile rearing habitat in this section will be enhanced through the addition of boulder clusters and by lifting bedrock and increasing streambed complexity. In total, CQWF will install ~6 spawning structures and complement them with nearby boulder clusters (n=8). The spawning habitat on the West River has been negatively impacted by excessive siltation, resulting in highly embedded spawning substrate. Older spawning structures will also be maintained. An educational video, showcasing how to build spawning structures, will be produced.

Other activities CQWF will conduct include:

-Annual maintenance on important salmon habitat areas (+30 km) with the installation and maintenance of habitat enhancement structures (pool-enhancing structures, cover logs, brush mats etc.).

-Annual monitoring activities to gather population information that will be incorporated into the updated management plans and future management considerations. Monitoring activities include redd surveys, juvenile electrofishing surveys, water quality monitoring, saprolegnia checks, water temperature surveys, and siltation monitoring.

-Riparian enhancement activities, such as planting native trees and shrubs and maintenance on existing plantations.