From Lake Vänern to German TV!

Josefin, tell us more about why you were at Lake Vänern tagging eels, and why a German TV crew was filming you?

– We were working on a project funded by the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management (HaV), where we studied eels undergoing so-called trap and transport – capture and relocation – within Energiforsk’s “Krafttag ål” program. The method is used to help eels pass hydropower stations during their migration from lakes to the sea. To monitor how the eels were doing during the journey, we tagged them with biologgers that measured heart rate and activity. It’s actually the first time this type of biologger has ever been used on eels. The heartbeats give us a clue about how stressed they become, and the goal is to make the capture and transport method as gentle as possible. The biologger tagging has been ongoing for two years and has resulted in two Aqua Notes. A TV crew picked up on the idea while making a program about the world’s great lakes – including those in Sweden – and heard about our work in Lake Vänern.

Birgitta, what was it like to operate on an eel with a big TV camera in your face?

– Well, it was a bit unusual to operate with a camera right in my face – there was even one moment when I either bumped into the camera or the microphone while leaning over the eel. But otherwise, it went fine.

Here you can watch the documentary: Faszination Wasser – Seen. Surgical precision and beautiful shots are promised 22 minutes into the program.