NRTG’s MicroCourses offer a dynamic training pathway that’s as flexible as it is enriching to build expertise. Our Introduction to Fish Habitat Measurement and Assessment course, spanning four hours, delivers in-depth training in an easily digestible format. It’s designed to maximize your skills for immediate application.
Unlock the key to thriving fisheries with our dynamic course on Measuring and Assessing Fish Habitat. With North American fish habitats facing unprecedented challenges, the saying “no habitat, no fish” has never been more urgent. But navigating the sea of forms and protocols can be overwhelming for even the brightest new professionals.
In this immersive course, you’ll dive deep into understanding fish habitat and its critical role across seasons and life stages, with a focus on stream-dwelling salmonids. We’ll break down habitat units like pools, riffles, runs, and glides, and show you how these features support thriving fish populations. Explore the essential roles of riparian zones, woody debris, and in-stream cover, and learn how to recognize disturbances caused by forestry, agriculture, and human development.
From key quantitative and qualitative measurements to must-know water quality sampling methods, this course arms you with the tools you need to confidently assess stream habitats. Plus, we’ll guide you through various forms and protocols so you can record measurements with precision.
This course spanning four hours is designed for biologists and technicians who are new to the field of stream habitat measurements and assessments. It serves as a good foundation to the more advanced topic of designing aquatic habitat assessments which is covered in the follow-up NRTG MicroCourse Planning and Designing Aquatic Habitat Assessments.
Course will be 4 hours long.
Alan McNeill, BSc.
Fisheries Biologist
Alan McNeill has 25 years experience in fisheries management specializing in freshwater species. His primary interests have been population abundance for various finfish species in streams and lakes, habitat assessment for salmonids, creel and angler surveys, promoting sportfishing, practicing aquaculture, and regulation development.
In his career he has worked with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the Nova Scotia Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture. Until he recently retired, he was Director of the Inland Fisheries Division of the Nova Scotia Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture. He is also the Past President of the Atlantic International Chapter of the American Fisheries Society and recipient of the Premiers Award of Excellence in 2007 for his work on the Environmental Monitoring Program for Marine Aquaculture.
