Sucker spawning season is almost here!

Help with Citizen Science Project: Sucker Watch

Introducing Sucker Watch, developed by Trout Unlimited Canada, Sucker Watch is a citizen science initiative to document sucker spawning events across the range of the species. If you’d like to participate in this project, all you need to do is download the iNaturalist app (you may already have it) and join the Sucker Watch project. Once you’ve joined you can make observations of spawning suckers either in a random observation context, or (even better) as part of routine observations of a single (or a handful) of spawning locations. The whole idea of this is to both a) increase the volume of spawning sucker observations on iNaturalist, and b) increase understanding of spawn timing of suckers across the range and between species.

Routine observations of a single location is the gold standard as it can provide information on when the run starts, when it peaks, and when it ends. If this sounds like something you’re keen on, pick a location and visit it as often as you are interested/able, making an observation of what you find each time. It’s also worth noting that if you’ve got photos and a location of spawning suckers from years gone by, those can be added as observations using the app or website as well. If you’re keen to seek out as many spots as you can, that approach works too!

More details on this project available here: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/sucker-watch/journal/90902-the-watch-begins.

Please reach out to the lead developer of Sucker Watch, Elliot Lindsay ([email protected]), if you have any questions!