From Farm Fields to Wetlands

It’s a beautiful fall day on the Toussaint River, just south of the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge on the Lake Erie shore. Along both riverbanks, farm fields attest to western Ohio’s agricultural roots, and on the water, the passengers of a metal boat, clad in heavy rubber waders, boots, and gloves, seem to be setting up for a mad science experiment.

Metal wires extend from the boat’s bow into the water, and a generator in the back of the boat hums quietly. In the boat, buckets of river water and wooden measuring trays await the day’s catch, as the electrical current stuns the fish in the surrounding part of the river and causes them to float to the surface, where they’ll be swept up with fiberglass nets and deposited in the buckets.