Secret Lives of Eel River Fishes

Brown Bag Lunch Online Presentation with Patrick Higgins, Eel River Recovery Project: Explore the state of the Eel River’s aquatic health as reflected in its fish community, and the salmon and steelhead life histories and run trends.

Get underwater with Pat’s video and pictures as he explains the state of the Eel River’s aquatic health as reflected in its fish community, and the salmon and steelhead life histories and run trends. He’ll visit lesser known native fish like suckers, sculpin and stickleback, and non-native fish like the pikeminnow.

People throughout the Eel River basin expressed concern about problems with disappearing fish, toxic algae, and diminishing flow. Since water temperature has key relationships to all three, the Eel River Recovery Project began deploying automated temperature sensors in 2012. By placing gauges all over the watershed we can determine if locations are suitable for salmon and steelhead, whether conditions foster toxic algae, or whether a stream is warming as a result of flow depletion.

Patrick Higgins is a fisheries biologist as well as managing director of the Eel River Recovery Project. He is an authority on Eel River fish, and a talented and lively presenter.

• See upcoming presentations at the Brown Bag Lunch presentations website.
• See more past presentations at the Brown Bag Lunch presentations archive.