The Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters runs a program in cooperation with the Ministry of Natural Resources to test for the presence of invading species in Ontario's waters. I had previously asked if our lake could be put on the list for testing. Earlier this week, a big toolbox full of testing equipment arrived via Purolator at our back door. Yesterday was the day we took the equipment out onto the lake and did the sampling. The kit will be courriered back to a Peterborough lab tomorrow where the samples of water will be studied for the presence of any invading species. To do the test, a very fine plankton net with a gathering chamber, called a cod chamber, at the bottom of the net is lowered into the lake and slowly withdrawn, gathering the plankton and any inhabitants that may be present. The contents of the cod chamber are put into a glass beaker and rubbing alcohol is added to preserve the samples.
The submitted samples will be analysed primarly for the presence of waterfleas and zebra mussels. The results will be sent to me when the testing is completed.
If you want to learn more about the many different types of invading species, visit the website at:
http://www.invadingspecies.com/
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