Movements of Atlantic salmon migrating upstream through a fish‐pass complex in Scotland

• Published in: Ecology of Freshwater Fish
• Main Authors: Gowans, A. R. D., Armstrong, J. D., Priede, I. G., Mckelvey, S.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2003
• Subjects: Borland; Atlantic salmon
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1034/j.1600-0633.2003.00018.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1034%2Fj.1600-0633.2003.00018.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1034/j.1600-0633.2003.00018.x

Abstract – Movements of adult Atlantic salmon were tracked through a series of four fish passes and an impoundment on the River Conon system, Northern Scotland. Proportions of fish passing individual obstructions ranged from 63 to 100%. The cumulative effect was that only 4 of the 54 tagged fish reached the spawning areas. The fish were delayed for 1–41 days at a pool‐and‐overfall ladder and 1–52 days at a Borland fish lift. The fish swam through a 10 km long reservoir at 0.21–1.16 km·h −1 . A total of 13 fish negotiated a 2.5 km long, 3 m diameter diversion tunnel through a mountain to their home river. High levels of electromyogram (EMG) activity were recorded during ascent of a pool‐and‐overfall fish ladder, indicating that high energy demanding burst swimming was required.