Updating Equipment for the Critically Important Floods Pond Arctic Charr Study

A large male rare Arctic charr from Floods Pond in Maine

Due to their rarity, and vulnerability, Maine’s Arctic charr are a focus species for NFC. The most important study involving Maine’s Arctic charr, the last in the contiguous United States, is being done by Dr. Michael Kinnison from University of Maine in Orono.

Closed to recreation, including fishing, and home to a robust populations of Arctic charr, Floods Pond is considered the gene-bank for the sub-species. It is also the only place where an Arctic charr population can be studied without having to sort through the impacts of human use.

Like most college programs, at least academic, the program is short on funds and some of the equipment had become old and in some cases, less than ideal. To address this, NFC has been securing new equipment wherever possible.

We have procured two new fish-friendly nets, several pair of fish- and handler-friendly neoprene gloves, a tank for anesthetizing fish, two buckets for transporting fish, and two large coolers for holding and recovery tanks.

NFC also designed and built a portable pumping system for getting freshwater to the coolers in the makeshift lab, as well as for cleaning equipment after the fact. And we purchased rubber mats to help protect fish from the cement floors.

NFCs most recent contribution to the Floods Pond study was a new PIT tag reader. Working with Avid identification Systems, we were able to replace a badly worn and slightly damaged unit with a new unit with increased capability in the form of internal storage.

Dr. Michael Kinnison with the new PIT tag reader provided by NFC and Avid

NFC thanks Dr. Vince Silverman and Avid for their generous donation, and Marshall Cutchin and MidCurrent for sharing our Floods Pond video which in turn resulted in the discussions between NFC and Avid regarding the reader.