Cutthroat Trout Monitoring

NALT is spearheading a cutthroat trout monitoring project with several local streamkeepers groups, including Walley Creek streamkeepers.  They've received permits from the Province and DFO, so we are ready to go ahead with selecting monitoring sites and becoming trained to do this work. 

We'll use an app called Survey 123 to record

• Date​
• Time
• Stream Name
• Watershed Name
• Current weather
• Site ID (automatic as you will select your site from a map)
• GPS Location
• Photo
• Surveyors first and last names
• Weather during sample period
• Time/ date when you set trap out
• Time/ date When trap retrieved
• Bait type
• Fish captured – Y/N
• species
  • CTT
  • Rainbow
  • Coho
  • Stickleback
  • Sculpin
  • Other
• # per species
• Fork length (mm) for all
• Photos of all salmonids (clear, in-focus, taken in the viewer)
• Notes/comments

The software will then map the data so that it can be compared between streams and over time. 

​The goal is to determine if there are cutthroat trout in Nanaimo streams, and if so, where are they?  We'll be strategic about sampling where there's an increased likelihood of finding cutthroat.   We plan to continue sampling for at least 2 years, and possibly for as long as 5 years.  We may need to move the traps up or downstream, depending on what we catch, and water levels.  Interestingly, Pete Law did some pit tagging of cutthroat on a small stream in BC, and of the 50 fish they followed, all but 2 stayed within a 10-20m area of the creek over the year of the study.

It's important to note that we're not estimating total population, but recording presence/absence and comparing our results over the years that data is collected.  

A local newspaper covered the story here: https://www.nanaimobulletin.com/local-news/coastal-cutthroat-trout-project-examining-nanaimos-trout-population-7564784

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*We're sad to report that as of February 2025, none of the trout traps in Walley Creek have found any cutthroat, only sticklebacks.  It's likely that the loss of surface water in the creek above Shores Drive during the dry summers has had a catastrophic effect on their population.  The pool habitat has become too isolated and the loss of water is too sudden for the fish to find refuge.  
​See our earlier post "Are there any fish in Walley Creek?" (June 2020)