Fish rescuers wade into Winter River catching fish struggling to survive

The Winter River - Tracadie Bay Watershed Association organized a fish rescue operation Monday along the Brackley branch of the Winter River.

Workers from the group waded through the muddy river waters hoping to catch fish and release them into some of the deeper, safer branches of the river.

Watershed coordinator Sarah Wheatley says water levels are just too low for the fish to survive.

"Most areas, the streams go lower in the summers just because of the seasonality of the water flow," she said.

"But here it's very dramatic and there's just no way for the fish to get away on their own. So between the puddles and hung culverts and other little challenges that they face, it's just too much for them to handle on their own."

Water usage to blame?

Wheatley does not believe this rescue process is a long-term solution.

She says too much water is being extracted from the area causing the lower river levels.

Richard MacEwen, assistant manager of Charlottetown's Water and Sewer Utility, says that Charlottetown has water restrictions in place as usual this summer.

He added that water usage is down 10 per cent since 2012.

In the end about 110 trout and 300 sticklebacks were released.