Transport Canada Has New Monitoring Tool

Researchers from the Institute Maurice LaMontagne are attempting to use Transport Canada’s navigation buoys as a monitoring tool to study mussels. Biologist Marcel Fréchette explained that the mollusks have fixed themselves to bridges. Since last year, the institute have been comparing data of the self-implantation to the data they already have on the Islands, Gaspesia and the North Coast, and to other data obtained from mussels that have been raised in experimental cages. The research in now underway on the mussels that are fixing themselves to the navigation buoys of Transport Canada, which should give a better knowledge of the geographical variations of the growth of young mussels, explained Mr. Fréchette.

The simplified version of the program's research project has followed the growth of the mussels taken from six different sites: from the Islands to Gaspé, Paspébiac, Blanc Sablon, Saint Pierre Harbour and Seven Islands. Marcel Fréchette foresees the project’s conclusion in 2009.