Smelt run finds a way around dam

For the first time in more than a century smelt are swimming upstream to spawn into Sturdy's Pond near Crapaud in central P.E.I.

Previous fish ladders collapsed and no fish could make it in to the pond. This spring, the province decided to try something it hadn't done before. It built a channel around the dam, and it worked.

"They're so important for the entire food chain here in fresh water and in our estuaries," said provincial freshwater fisheries biologist Rosie MacFarlane.

"So to see them have more space to spawn, and presumably we'll see more smelts down the road from these sorts of activities, it's fantastic."

The project was so successful that the province is now looking at adding a bypass channel in Vernon River.

The project cost about $100,000.

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