Had a conversation with my girlfriends brothers girlfriend , not second cousin sisters, brothers aunt who's my brother but was my sister before the operation, lmao had to be said . ne ways she works at CCIW ( Canadian Center for inland waters), they have been sampling smelt for years along with lake trout on an annual basis. They have not found smelts in the usual spots for a few years.
She travels all of the Great Lakes on a yearly basis for sampling and testing , they recently had new nets built 1/4" 1/2" 3/4" custom made out here on lake erie as they are now finding the smelt in 60 mtr of water as opposed to the shallower waters .
her explanation to this is as stated previously, that water clarity( zebra mussels) and temp of water rising due to clarity and penetration of sunlight, this is not a climate change but a change in the water . the smelts are looking for certain temperatures for breeding feeding and following their bait and staples. their decline are also attributed to the increase of predators in the food chain which has not put them in extinction but rather put them in check. not like when we were kids living on Lake Ontario and in the spring, Burlington would be minging of smelt and ale wife along the shore of the beach. the introduction of salmon definitely had an impact on this .
so thats the scientist answers on this ,
cheers chefboyardee
