Kelt Tracking Updates

From 2008 to 2011 the Miramichi Salmon Association in collaboration with the Atlantic Salmon Federation developed a study to track kelts from the Miramichi River.

The purpose of this program is to understand the migration paths of kelts, from the river to the ocean and back again, and to determine what temperatures and depths kelts prefer to migrate through. In addition, we will be able to determine how long individual kelts spend in the ocean and conclude how far consecutive spawners go to recondition. Also we may be able to pinpoint possible sources of mortality for kelts as they make their way to and from the ocean.

Kelt Biology

What is a kelt?

A kelt is a salmon that has spawned the previous fall and over-wintered in the river

Mature adult Atlantic salmon spawn in the fall and over-winter in the river. In spring after the ice melts, the kelts feed heavily on smelts and migrate out of the river between ice out and the end of May. On the Miramichi River, 15-20% of the Atlantic salmon will return to spawn again, termed repeat spawners. These repeat spawners are typically larger than maiden fish that have never spawned, and make up between 25-40% of the eggs deposited in the river. Within these repeat spawners there are two groups of fish; alternate spawners which spawn ever second year and consecutive spawners which spawn every year.

Transmitter that is inserted into the fishes abdominal cavity

Tags

The tags that are inserted into the body of each allow us to track the fish as they pass the receiver. The tag sends out an acoustic ping at a set delay. When the tag gets within range of the receiver the receiver records the unique tag ID number which identifies the fish, as well as the time and date of the encounter. Some tags are equipped with the ability to measure temperature and pressure and this information is also collected by the receiver. The tags used for this study have a battery life of approximately two years. This means that we will be able to track the salmon as it exits the river and when it comes back again, up to one and a half years later.

Fishermen helping to angle kelts on the Northwest

Tag Insertion

Kelts were angled and brought to the surgery area in a tank supplied with oxygen. Once the surgery was ready to commence the fish were anesthetized in a solution. A small incision was made in the abdomen of the fish and the transmitter was inserted into the abdominal cavity. The incision was sutured closed and the fish was held in a recovery tank to ensure recovery. Surgery typically took around 6 minutes and all fish recovered fully and were released after 2 hours.

Kelt being anesthetized prior to surgery

Inserting a tag into the abdominal cavity

ASF biologist Steve Tinker sutures the incision closed

Master's student Keelan Jacobs releases a kelt back into the river after it has recovered

Location of receiver arrays in Miramichi River and Bay

Location of receiver arrays in Gulf of St. Lawrence

Kelt Tracking 2011

Preliminary Results
Overall 50 kelts were angled and tagged over a two day period, on May 3rd and 4th, 2011 on the Northwest and Southwest Miramichi River. Twenty-seven kelts were tagged on the Northwest Miramichi, at Red Bank, and twenty three kelts were tagged on the Southwest Miramichi at Quarryville. The surgery typically took around two minutes and all fish recovered fully. Each fish was implanted with an acoustic tag which records the date and time a fish passes the receiver. A range of fish sizes were tagged, with the smallest being 22.8 inches and the largest being 38.8 inches. Two were female grilse, nine were male grilse, twenty-seven were female salmon and twelve were male salmon.

Kelt survival out of the river was very high, 96% of the kelts made it to the barrier islands in Miramichi Bay. Of the 50 kelts that were tagged 44 exited through the middel main river channel (Portage Channel) and two exited through the northern channel near Neguac. Four kelts were not picked up by the receivers at the barrier islands in Miramichi Bay. Two of these likely died while exiting the river and the other two were picked up on receivers at a later date. This sometimes occurs when multiple fish pass a receiver at the same time.

Five of the kelts tagged in 2011 have returned to the river this summer as consecutive spawners so far.

Last Name	Sex	Size	Last Known location
Ash	female	salmon	Miramichi Bay
Barrett	male	grilse	Miramichi Bay
Barrow	male	salmon	Miramichi Bay- returned to spawn in 2011
Barrow	female	salmon	Miramichi Bay
Boyer	female	salmon	Miramichi Bay
Brice	female	salmon	Miramichi Bay
Brice	female	salmon	Miramichi Bay- returned to spawn in 2011
Burns	male	salmon	Head of tide
Calder	female	salmon	Miramichi Bay
Carpenter	female	salmon	Miramichi Bay
Cherry	female	salmon	Miramichi Bay
Cole	female	salmon	Miramichi Bay
Conyngham	male	salmon	Miramichi Bay- returned to spawn in 2011
Cunningham	male	grilse	Miramichi Bay
Cunningham	female	salmon	Miramichi Bay
Dodge	male	salmon	Miramichi Bay- returned to spawn in 2011
Gerstmayr	female	salmon	Miramichi Bay- returned to spawn in 2011
Gilchrist	female	salmon	Miramichi Bay
Hapgood	male	grilse	Miramichi Bay
Harriman	male	salmon	Miramichi Bay
Hibbard	female	salmon	Miramichi Bay
Hibbard	male	grilse	Miramichi Bay
Knobloch	male	grilse	Miramichi Bay
Lord	female	salmon	Miramichi Bay
MacKinnon	male	salmon	Miramichi Bay
McQuaid	female	salmon	Head of tide
Mouland	female	salmon	Miramichi Bay
Mumford	female	salmon	Miramichi Bay
Oxley	female	salmon	Miramichi Bay
Price	male	salmon	Miramichi Bay
Price	male	grilse	Miramichi Bay
Savage	female	salmon	Miramichi Bay
Stern	female	salmon	Miramichi Bay
Taylor	female	salmon	Miramichi Bay
Thistle Fishing Club Inc.	male	salmon	Miramichi Bay
Vickers	female	salmon	Head of tide
Warren	female	salmon	Miramichi Bay
Westaway	female	salmon	Miramichi Bay
Wilber	male	grilse	Miramichi Bay
Worth	female	salmon	Miramichi Bay

Table 1. Locations of sponsors kelts as of September 30, 2011.

Funding in part provided by the New Brunswick Wildlife Trust Fund in 2010 and 2011

Results 2010

Kelt survival out of the river was very high, 90% of the tagged kelts made it to the mouth of the river at Loggieville. Twelve kelts went through the Neguac exit, 31 went through receivers in Portage Channel, the main river channel exiting Miramichi Bay and two kelts were not picked up by the receivers in Miramichi Bay. Of the 45 kelts that made it through the outer array, seven kelts passed through the Strait of Belle Isle on their way to Greenland. The kelts that went through the Strait of Belle Isle are making their way to Greenland.
Nine kelts returned back to the Miramichi River to spawn in 2010. The kelts that returned back to the Miramichi in 2010 are consecutive spawners, which feed in the ocean for a few months and return in the summer spawn again. This is the highest number of kelts returning that we have had in the three years this project has taken place. All of the kelts that returned to the Miramichi River went up the respective branches where they were tagged this spring. Eight of the kelts that returned were female salmon and one was a male salmon. All of the kelts returned to the river between June 22 and July 14^th, 2010.

Most of the returning kelts entered the river and traveled fairly quickly through the lower tidal section of the river. However there were three kelts that made some interesting movements prior to or while in the river. One kelt passed by a receiver at Chatham on July 12 and was captured at the DFO Millerton trap net on the Southwest Miramichi on July 13^th, 2010. This kelt was noticed by DFO staff since it still had stitch marks on the belly where the tag had been inserted. Another kelt was also picked up in the Bay du Chaleur on a receiver for a smolt tracking study on July 12, 2010, moved into the Miramichi River the same day and made it’s way to Millerton by July 14. Another kelt entered the river at Chatham on July 6^th, went up the Northwest Miramichi on July 9^th (last known hit was Cassilis) held for the summer on the Northwest then on September 26^th moved downstream and up the Southwest Miramichi, past Millerton. This kelt was originally tagged on the Southwest Miramichi.

Two kelts were picked up on receivers associated with other research projects off the coast of Newfoundland. One kelt was picked up in January 2011 near Twillingate and the other in May near Cape Broyle.

Of the nine fish that returned to spawn in 2010 as consecutive spawners (spawning each year), five successfully over-wintered in the river and exited the river in the spring of 2011. Of the five that successfully made it to the ocean, one made it back to the river to spawn for a third time. In addition, four kelts have returned to the river from Greenland, as alternate spawners, after spending over one year at sea feeding and travelling.

Results 2009
The spring of 2009 was a great year for spring salmon fishing and we were able to catch all of the kelts in three days. Overall 50 kelts were angled and tagged over a three day period, from May 6 to May 8, 2009 on the Northwest and Southwest Miramichi. Twenty five kelts were tagged on the Northwest Miramichi, at Red Bank, and twenty five kelts were tagged on the Southwest Miramichi at Quarryville. A range of fish sizes were tagged, with the smallest being 22.2 inches (2 lbs) and the largest being 37 inches (12.5 lbs). Fifteen of the fish were female, thirty three were male and two were of unknown sex. Forty five of the fish were implanted with acoustic tags, and five were implanted with temperature/pressure tags.

Of the 50 kelts tagged, 46 made it though the outer array in Miramichi Bay, 8 kelts passed through the Strait of Belle Isle on their way to Greenland and currently four kelts have returned back to the river to spawn in the fall of 2009. Of those four, it appears that three successfully over-wintered in the river and exited the river mouth in the spring of 2010. One of the kelts that successfully over-wintered in 2009/2010 returned to spawn again in 2010 for at least a third time, however the other two did not successfully return to spawn. Additionally no additonal kelts that were tagged in 2009 returned to spawn in 2010 as alternate spawners.

Results 2008

Overall 50 kelts were angled and tagged over an eight day period, from May 7 to May 14, 2008 on the Northwest and Southwest Miramichi. Forty-one kelts were tagged on the Northwest Miramichi, near Red Bank, because the angling was better during the time when the tagging took place. Nine kelts were tagged on the Southwest Miramichi in Quarryville. The surgery typically took around six minutes and all fish recovered fully. A range of fish sizes were tagged, with the smallest being 21 inches (1.8 lbs) and the largest being 35.5 inches (8.5 lbs). Twenty five of the fish were female, twenty one were male and four were of unknown sex. Thirty of the fish were implanted with acoustic tags, for location only, and twenty were implanted with temperature/pressure tags; which in addition to marking the fishes’ location records water temperature and pressure (depth) of the fish as it approached the receiver.

The buoy of a deployed unit

Downloading one of the underwater receivers

Of the 50 kelts tagged 48 made it from the head of tide, at Quarryville or Red Bank, to the mouth of the Miramichi River, near Sheldrake Island. From the mouth of the Miramichi River, all of the 48 kelts made it to the edge of the outer bay near the barrier islands, and headed into the outer bay and into the Atlantic Ocean. Twenty two kelts were picked up by receivers in the Strait of Belle Isle during the first three weeks of July. Additionally, three kelts returned back to the Miramichi River in July to spawn again this fall. The kelts that have not been picked up by the Strait of Belle Isle receivers may have exited through Cabot Strait, may be in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence or may have died at sea.

Four kelt tags were picked up at receivers associated with other fish telemetry studies. Three kelt tags were picked up on a receiver located off the coast of Labrador in July and one kelt tag was picked up on a receiver off the barrier islands surrounding Kouchibouguac Bay.

In 2008, three kelts returned to spawn and successfully overwintered in the river and headed back to the ocean in May of 2009. Two of those kelts that returned in 2008 have also returned in 2009 to spawn again. Four additional kelts tagged in 2008 returned in the summer of 2009 to spawn. In total seven salmon returned at least once to the Miramichi out of the 48 that made it through Miramichi Bay.

Thank you to all our donors and funding partners!

We want to take this opportunity to thank all of the people who donated funds towards the kelt tracking program in 2008-2011. We also want to thank the New Brunswick Wildlife Trust Fund for their contributions to this project in 2010 and 2011 as well as the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for the use of some receivers.