Report information
No-one is certain if the fall in Salmon numbers is due to habitat degradation, over fishing, food availability or even barriers to migration. Many rivers for example have large wiers which make it difficult for salmon to progress up stream.
As part of a project to find out more about the Salmon migration, March saw our intrepid scientist Barry Bendall from the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science onboard a boat in the harbour at the mouth of the River Tyne where he was catching and fitting transmitters to adult Salmon making their way in from the sea.
These are not satellite transmitters but acoustic ones and work by transmitting to acoustic receivers which are placed at strategic points up the river. In March, Barry caught and tagged our first Salmon, a female who we named Wylam after a local Northumberland village.
Further Reading:
Next report: Tyne Salmon Trail
Last report: Barry attaches a tracking tag to Wylam
What happens if you catch a CEFAS tagged fish? Find out at the CEFAS website
Check out Wylam's predicted route up the River Tyne