Wednesday June 18, 2025
University of Waterloo —
Have you ever been on a “skunked” fishing trip—one where you don’t catch a single fish? Sometimes, it’s the weather. Other times, it’s faulty gear. But if you’ve been fishing in rivers for a while, you may have noticed more and more skunked trips. The problem might not be your technique—it could be the river itself.
Michael Chislett, a PhD student in the River Hydraulics Research Group under the supervision of Dr. Bruce MacVicar in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, is studying how the shape of riverbeds develops over time. Specifically, he is investigating river bedform morphologies—the undulations and patterns along the bottom of a river caused by hydraulics and sediment supply. His goal is to determine if there is a predictable way to induce the formation of specific morphologies using a process-based approach to river restoration.
As Chislett describes it, process-based river restoration works a bit like putting an airplane on autopilot; you can step back and let the journey take its course, but the pilot can intervene when turbulence gets rough. River engineers should prioritize letting rivers do the work of hydraulics on their own, but also need to recognize when it’s necessary to supplement the river’s function. This can happen when human activities threaten the stability of the channel.