Smallmouth bass are a top predator in many aquatic ecosystems across North America. Recent advances in telemetry have allowed us to remotely monitor the movements and behaviour of fishes at fine-scale resolution. I am currently involved in a study using telemetric tools to quantify the movement and behaviour of free-swimming smallmouth bass across several seasons and at multiple time scales. This study was carried out at the Harkness Laboratory of Fisheries Research, Lake Opeongo, Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, and will help improve our understanding of smallmouth bass ecology, behaviour and habitat requirements.

Angling is a popular recreational activity for people around the globe and is currently a multi-billion dollar industry in Canada. To help protect this valuable resource, many anglers release the fish that they capture; research has shown that fish that have been angled and released can survive, grow, reproduce and be captured again. My research in this area has been to design novel conservation strategies to help improve the survival of fish that have been angled and released. To date my research has quantified a host of physiological, behavioural, and physical responses of fish to various stressors associated with catch-and-release angling. As well, I have documented how water temperature, dissolved oxygen and ammonia concentrations can impact the time for fish to recover from angling-induced stressors. This research has improved our understanding of how fish respond to different external stressors, and has helped design management strategies proven to minimize the impacts of angling on fish and fish populations.

Male largemouth bass and smallmouth bass provide parental care for their developing offspring in the form of egg fanning and defense from predators. Across North America there is a great deal of variation in regulations designed to protect nesting bass from angling - some areas have closed seasons preventing all angling for nesting bass, while some areas allow angling for nesting bass. Each of these two management options makes different assumptions about the impacts of angling for nesting bass. My research in this area worked to understand the individual- and population-level consequences of angling for nesting bass while they are guarding their broods. My research showed that if brood-guarding bass are targeted by anglers, the fish that will be caught are not selected randomly - large males with large broods defend their nests more aggressively than small males and will be preferentially caught. Over time, this can lead to a reduction in population size and reproductive output if small large males are repeatedly angled and acheive reduced fitness. As a result of this research, showed that no-fishing sanctuaries can work to increase population-level reproductive success for nesting bass populations. This research was carried out at lakes in the vicinity of the Queen's University Biological Station.