The Elusive Fish of Fish Creek Provincial Park

September 2, 2025

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The Elusive Fish of Fish Creek Provincial Park

Text by Sara Heerema, photos by Cameron Hunter and Sara Heerema

Looking down into a shimmering bucket of minnows isn’t something that we get to do very often at AWA. However, when Friends of Fish Creek Provincial Park Society (FoFC) reached out to ask if we wanted to help them out with a Fish Inventory Survey along the creek on August 28 & 29 (the last time this was completed was over 30 years ago, in 1992), we jumped at the chance to get our feet wet with some fieldwork.

Our first day took place on the Tsuut’ina Nation, looking first at a small tributary, and then along Fish Creek itself. Peter Crane, the GIS manager, gathered us together for a discussion of study areas and a prayer before we divided into our crews for the day. Cameron and Sara joined crew #2 for the first day, along with members of Friends of Fish Creek, Freshwater Conservation Canada (FCC), the Tsuut’ina Nation, and a volunteer from the Elbow River Watershed Partnership. We charted a 300m section along the creek, divided into 50m sections with flagging tape. We donned our chest-high waders and scrambled into the flowing water.

S. Heerema

Every step was wobbly as we attempted not to fall in, since we were warned that the electric current could shock us if we touched any bare skin to the water. The first tributary turned out to be bereft of fish, but we did net a few unsuspecting wood frogs, who were quickly returned to the murky water. Fish Creek itself had no such deficiency, with over 300 fish caught in our small 300m sampling zone.  In elbow-high rubber gloves, we traded off between netting and bucket duty throughout the day, catching fish as they were temporarily stunned from the electro-fishing before they floated downstream, and placing them in the awaiting buckets. After a section of the creek had been surveyed, we would tromp onto shore to process our catch and take stream measurements.

Hauling the buckets of fish ashore was a relief, as it meant that no one had accidentally toppled over into the creek, inadvertently spilling the small fish back into the fast-flowing water. We were shown key characteristics for determining species, some of which were more obvious than others. Tentatively, we scooped a few fish into the plastic dishes used to measure length, and stared into beady eyes. After a couple of hours, we were more confident with IDs (it helped that the majority were longnose dace), and we only occasionally had to hold a fish up in confusion for a FCC team member to have a second look at.

C. Hunter

The second day, Ruiping joined us as well, and we sampled in the park itself, with onlookers occasionally questioning just what kind of fishing we were doing. Aside from the aforementioned longnose dace, we identified longnose sucker, white sucker, plains sucker, lake chub, trout perch, fathead minnow, and brook stickleback. A few rainbow trout and brown trout were also captured, with fin clippings taken from those large enough to send back for DNA testing. Unfortunately, we also found 2 invasive Prussian carp, which had to be removed from the watershed due to the detrimental impact they have on our native species.

The hot days in the sun were a fun change of pace, and it was nice to chat with some of the ENGO members who we don’t collaborate with as often. The information we helped to gather will help to inform management decisions in the Fish Creek Watershed, and contribute to better understanding fish populations in the province as a whole.

S. Heerema