The majority of research projects that Kintama undertakes reveal surprisingly rapid migration behaviours of the study animals (mainly juvenile and adult salmon). As part of the early stages of analysis we animate the recorded movements of the individual acoustically tagged animals over the arrays.

Note the “time clock” in the lower left of most animations and how fast the animals migrate.

Click on the box in the lower right corner for full-screen animation

Enjoy!

A yearly mark-recapture study is done in the Bulkley River at the Moricetown Canyon Falls to estimate the number of adult steelhead. Tagging is done immediately below the falls and the recapture site is at the top of the falls.  In 2009 Kintama deployed several acoustic receivers above and below the falls and a sub-sample of the mark-recapture fish was equipped with sonic tags in addition to the standard anchor tags.  The study allowed for an investigation of the number of fish that dropped down-river upon release, the amount of time fish spent in the area below the falls, the extent of down- and up-stream travel following release and most importantly, how many fish actually passed the recapture site following tagging.  Our study found that only between 56-59% of tagged steelhead were available to recapture and therefore that the mark-recapture abundance estimates would be over-estimated.

This animation shows the movement of 2009 spring Chinook smolt in the Columbia River, comparing two “in river” stocks, Yakima- and Snake River, which must migrate through 4 to 8 hydropower dams, respectively. Further, the animation allows for a visual comparison of the in river runs to three groups of Snake River fish transported past all the dams and released in the lower Columbia River. Read report

Side by side comparison of 2008 and 2009 spring Chinook smolt migrations: two in-river stocks, Yakima- and Snake River, which must migrate through 4 to 8 hydropower dams, respectively, and groups of Snake River smolts which are transported around all dams and released in the lower Columbia River. Read 2006-09 multi-year report 

A pilot project using acoustic telemetry was designed and deployed in the Skeena and Bulkley River system in summer 2008 with the intention to test the technical feasibility of using acoustic technology in the free-flowing Skeena River to answer several important questions about the survival and migratory behaviour of returning adult steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Fish were collected and tagged at two sites: (a) the Tyee sockeye test fishery near the Skeena River mouth and (b) a site located 300 m below the Moricetown Falls in the Bulkley River canyon.  Read report