Students Participate in Eco Study at Dillon Falls

DILLON FALLS– Students along with professors from Zane State and Ohio State University (OSU) gathered at Dillon Falls on Tuesday to study some of the non-game fish that inhabit the river.

OSU Stream & River Ecology Member, Brian Zimmerman, said that it’s a great opportunity for students to get hands on experience training outside the classroom  and to help them appreciate the fish a little bit more.

“If you just talk about it in the classroom you may not realize that the darters live in the fast flowing waters, or the minnows are in the pools, or the sunfish hang out around logs and debris. You can explain it, but to be out and actually see it is probably going to stick better with the students,” Zimmerman said.

In order to catch the fish, students and professors used a few different techniques to capture the fish.

“We’ll be using minnow seines and backpack electro fishing units. The electro fishing units just stun the fish temporarily to make them easier to capture so then we will be able to show students what we have caught and so that they can actually be involved in catching them too,” Zimmerman said.

Zimmerman also mentioned that there has been a increase in some of the larger, more rare species of fish migrating back into their natural habitats. He said that this could mainly be because of the better care to the river systems.