Fisheries Assessment

A stream or river channel often appears to be in a healthy and functional condition, yet productivity is limited. This may mean that fish are not present in expected numbers, that fish are stunted or that populations are unbalanced. Limitations such as this can be due to a variety of influences including chronic or periodic dewatering of the channel, water quality or temperature problems, or unequal habitat distributions that favor specific life stages at the expense of others. Kingfisher Consulting performs comprehensive baseline inventories at a reach, channel or watershed level to identify and describe habitat conditions. These inventories evaluate temperature, discharge and flow regime; fish population dynamics; macroinvertebrate population dynamics; habitat distribution; riparian vegetation community; sediment transport regime; land use issues; in addition to other influences which may pertain to a specific stream. Using this information we can identify limiting factors, prescribe management actions, and follow population responses to management activities.