The signs are within sight — “Danger: turbulent water” — but two budding environmental scientists pay no heed to the warning and wander into the Moira River.

Megan Lloyst, 24, has an elctro-pack on her back, used for fishing while her co-worker, Josh Stacey, 30, sweeps in with a fishing net behind the circular ring that sends the electrical shock into the water.

They are not here for bass, perch or sunfish, they are here for American eel.

Late in the 1980s populations of the eel decreased by 90 to 99 per cent. In 2006 Ontario Power Generation put together a program to restock the eels. Lloyst and Stacey are working with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada to document the program’s efficiency.

“Right now we’re both just sampling the Moira and Napanee rivers to determine if these stocked eels have dispersed inland that far and started to utilize the stream habitats along here,” said Stacey, wadding knee deep in the Moira River.

The two are equipped with elbow high rubber gloves, rubber hip waders, felt soled rubber boots, note pads, electronic instruments, measuring sticks, spring loaded weights and their own education, all the gear they they hope they’ll need to find the American eel.

Although they spend their time documenting a multitude of factors, they are “mainly interested in the habitat associations with different size classes of eel. We’ve been pretty successful in the Moira River so far and have got a range of sizes and different habitat types,” said Lloyst.

The great debate is why the eel population decreased by such a large number, and if the restocking program really is effective in repopulating the species to its natural habitat.

According to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada the American eel has a number of threats to confront. Climate change may be causing a deviation of the Gulf Stream system to the north, which could interfere with larval transport to coastal areas. Dams and other barriers result in habitat loss and contribute to reduced or delayed recruitment. Turbines are also cited to contribute to increased mortality or injury of downstream migration, depending on turbine design and eel size. Biological (exotic species, parasites) and chemical contaminants, and commercial fishing are threats in some regions.

“Truthfully it could cause the decline in the eel population because they inhabit such a wide range of travel. Eels from Lake Ontario will migrate out to the St. Lawrence river to the east coast of Canada and make their way to the Sargasso Sea in the mid Atlantic. There are many factors that can be affecting their longevity along that great journey,” said Stacey

Authorized by the DFO, Stacey and Lloyst collect eel samples and label them in jars, to be further analysed in a lab. For now, the two are heading to the Napannee River, after which visits to the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario will follow. The data they collect will aid in monitoring the eel populations and help give a better understanding of where the eels — a delicacy in many European countries — are migrating to and what conditions are best suited for the eel.