Report information
The Atlantic salmon has a complex life-history, spending its early life in freshwater, before making long migrations to its feeding grounds at sea and then returning to spawn in the river where it hatched from an egg. Since the 1970s the numbers returning to spawn have dropped by over 50% for reasons which aren’t fully understood.
CEFAS (the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science) is particularly interested to know how changes in the water temperature of the river affects both the migration and egg production of the salmon. So, as soon there was a break in the storms and the waves died down on Thursday, Barry Bendall left Newcastle docks and sailed out into the North Sea to try and catch and tag some salmon before they entered the River Tyne, so that we can follow their progress back to their spawning grounds. He rang us from the boat, as soon as they had caught their first salmon. The salmon are fitted with an acoustic tag which when it passes a receiver along the river will transmit information about the date and time that the salmon had reached that point as well as information about the river depth at which the salmon is swimming and the river temperature.
The team hope to tag several dozen fish and we will follow their progress over the year. The data received from the tags, coupled with information on the behaviour and breeding success of individual salmon will enable the scientists to answer questions about the effects of changes in the environmental conditions on the salmon.
Further Reading:
Next report: Fish and Chips Part II
What happens if you catch a CEFAS tagged fish? Find out at the CEFAS website.
Interactive art project Tyne Salmon Trail