Salmon Distribution in the US West Coast
The US west coast is home to a wide range of salmon species, all of which have a complex life history involving several migratory stages.
There are many stressors and threats to salmon such as habitat loss, infrastructure development (dam building), overfishing, pollution, disease, and climate change altering weather patterns. Due to this, many salmon species have been listed as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
Not only is salmon an important source of protein and income for coastal communities, they also play a vital role in nutrient cycling between the ocean and river systems.
SOBaD Project
To ensure we can protect the salmon, NOAA’s (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Northwest Fisheries Science Centre has kicked off the Salmon Ocean Behaviour and Distribution (SOBaD) project.
The project aims to understand salmon distribution and behaviour through acoustic telemetry in the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary.
NOAA have tagged many salmon with Innovasea acoustic tags to be detected on several Innovasea acoustic release receivers deployed within the sanctuary to carry out this study.
Ten of RS Aqua’s Big Acoustic Release Canister (BARC) will be used alongside Innovasea’s acoustic release receiver to ensure recovery of all deployed equipment from the seabed, which is a requirement in most marine protected areas.
The BARC units will be positioned in various areas where salmon migrations are expected to validate their pathways and determine the best methods to protect these important species.
The ARC has been commercially available for over five years now and has been successfully used on over 1000 deployments.
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