Constructed Wetlands: Restoring Northern Pike Habitat

A series of wetlands running through grassy land, backed by industrial buildings. — Wetlands at Jim Tovey Lake Conservation Area.

New Coastal Wetlands at Jim Tovey Lakeview Conservation Area

Coastal wetlands are valuable ecosystems in the Great Lakes. A key feature of coastal wetlands is to provide spawning and nursery habitat for fish. As a result of the many stressors to wetlands along the Great Lakes coasts, these types of wetlands are being degraded and lost. At the future Jim Tovey Lakeview Conservation Area, we’re creating new coastal wetlands.

Connecting People and Wildlife

With a shared goal of restoring fish and wildlife habitats, Credit Valley Conservation (CVC), the Region of Peel and Toronto and Region Conservation Authority are creating a new waterfront park.

The Jim Tovey Lakeview Conservation Area (JTLCA) will become a 26-hectare hub on Lake Ontario’s north shore, in Mississauga’s east end. It will offer waterfront recreation and foster a connection between people, wildlife and nature while enhancing the shoreline.

The community-initiated project aims to answer calls for a new natural park while establishing important ecological habitats for fish, wildlife and plants. Included in the designs of this conservation area are the creation of three coastal wetlands, next to Serson Creek and Applewood Creek, that are connected to Lake Ontario.

The project has created a significant amount of new aquatic habitat, including:

1,616 metres of new shoreline
700 metres of new creek channels
1,273 metres of offshore habitat
5.2 hectares of wetland and riparian habitat

Monitoring Approach

Three people in life jackets holding small tanks with fish specimens. — CVC’s Aquatic Restoration team at JTLCA conducting the first fish survey of 2024.

The crucial work of our Aquatic Restoration team involves monitoring the wetlands. We developed a monitoring plan to check that wildlife is using the habitat we are creating. We’re committed to monitoring and adaptively managing the constructed habitats to ensure the wetlands continue along a trajectory of success.

Two people in a knee-deep in a body of water with a large net in a u-shape. — CVC Aquatic Restoration staff use a seine net, a net that hangs vertically in the water and holds down the bottom edge with weights, to sample fish species in one of the JTLCA Serson Creek wetlands.

Some of the aquatic monitoring includes:

Fish along the new shoreline, streams and wetlands
Wetland plants
Water level of wetlands

Exciting Fish Finds

Two small olive-coloured fish with iridescent and brown vertical stripes along their bodies, inside a clear sample tank. — Banded killifish are a North American freshwater species, preferring quiet bodies of water with dense vegetation for reproduction.

In May 2024, we conducted an annual fish survey in one of the created wetlands and were very excited to find young-of-year northern pike.

The term young-of-year indicates a fish is likely under one year of age. This is an exciting find, as it strongly suggests that northern pike are using the constructed wetlands for reproduction and nursery habitat.

The 2024 spring survey not only identified banded killifish, brook silverside and yellow perch, but also uncovered other species that had never been documented in this area. The presence of multiple lake species proves that fish from Lake Ontario are using this new habitat.

Fish sampling methods we used include:

Boat electrofishing
Backpack electrofishing
Hoop netting
Seine netting
Underwater camera (remote operated vehicle)

But Why Pike?

A small fish with dark greenish-brown scales and an elongated snout.
Caption: A young northern pike fish found at JTLCA. — A young northern pike fish found at JTLCA.

Northern pike is a native species found in Lake Ontario, which prefers shallow, vegetated waters less than four meters deep. Recent studies have revealed that northern pike populations in Lake Ontario are struggling.

The Northern Pike Management Strategy outlines Lake Ontario Fish Community Goals and Objectives in which they aim to “protect, restore and sustain the diversity of the near-shore fish community, with an emphasis on self-sustaining native fishes”, such as northern pike. The current management strategy aims to boost population abundance and the abundance of larger fish but faces challenges because of the loss of spawning habitat and connectivity.

The restoration at JTLCA aligns with these goals and objectives to construct coastal wetlands that will preserve and rehabilitate fish populations. We are thrilled to see the newly created aquatic habitats at JTLCA support a wide variety of fish species and life stages of fish. JTLCA restores ecological services that were missing from the area for generations and will support fish for many years to come.

By Annie White, Technician Two, Aquatic Restoration Watershed Management