Dr. John Casselman: American Eels in the St. Lawrence River System - Going, Going, Gone?
Channel: Save The River / Upper St. Lawrence Riverkeeper
Date: 2019-02-15

Dr. John Casselman, adjunct professor at Queen's University, discusses the status of the American eel in the St. Lawrence River system at Save The River's 30th Annual Winter Environmental Conference on Saturday, February 2, 2019, at the 1000 Islands Harbor Hotel in Clayton, NY. 

The American eel is an elusive and highly migratory species that spawns in the Sargasso Sea and matures in continental waters of North America. Eels were once very abundant in the St. Lawrence
River system (constituted half of the inshore fish biomass) and were heavily used by Aboriginal peoples. In recent years, the species has declined catastrophically and is now classified as Endangered by Ontario and the IUCN. Has its status changed? What is unique about this important indicator species? Is the association going, going, gone?

Dr. John M. Casselman is an adjunct professor, Biology Department, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario. John is a fisheries ecologist and environmental physiologist who has numerous publications in the primary literature (172), reports, and book chapters on numerous aspects of fisheries science. He has published and presented widely on eels, climate change, fish and fisheries. He has received numerous awards, including, in 2008, the American Fisheries Society prestigious Award of Excellence.