Kelt Tracking Updates 2008

Kelt Tracking Program 2008-2009- Updates

In 2008 and 2009 the Miramichi Salmon Association in collaboration with the Atlantic Salmon Federation started a kelt tracking program on the Miramichi.

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

Preliminary 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.

As of December 2008, 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 other kelts tagged in 2008 returned in the summer of 2009 to spawn and hopefully more kelts will continue to move back into the river as the the season progresses. In total seven salmon returned to the Miramichi out of the 48 that made it through Miramichi Bay.

2008 Donor	Tagging Location	Sex	Size	Last known location
Andersen	Quarryville	Female	Salmon	Miramichi Bay
Barrow	Red Bank	Male	Salmon	Miramichi Bay
Barrow	Red Bank	Female	Salmon	Strait of Belle Isle
Bird	Red Bank	Female	Salmon	Strait of Belle Isle
Blackwell	Red Bank	Female	Salmon	Miramichi River (returned 2009)
Bobak	Red Bank	Male	Grilse	Strait of Belle Isle
Brice	Red Bank	Female	Salmon	Miramichi River (returned 2009)
Brice	Red Bank	Male	Grilse	Strait of Belle Isle
Caty	Red Bank	Female	Grilse	Miramichi Bay
Cherry	Red Bank	Female	Salmon	Miramichi River (returned 2009)
Cole	Red Bank	Female	Salmon	Strait of Belle Isle
Cunningham	Quarryville	Female	Salmon	Miramichi River (returned 2008)
Cunningham	Quarryville	Male	Grilse	Miramichi Bay
Freeman	Quarryville	Male	Grilse	Miramichi Bay
Gerstmayr	Red Bank	Male	Grilse	Strait of Belle Isle
Hibbard	Quarryville	Female	Salmon	Miramichi River (returned 2008/2009)
Hibbard	Red Bank	Male	Grilse	Strait of Belle Isle
Hinckley	Quarryville	Female	Salmon	Miramichi Bay
Howell	Red Bank	Male	Grilse	Miramichi Bay
IP Canada Holdings	Red Bank	Female	Grilse	Miramichi Bay
IP Canada Holdings	Red Bank	Female	Salmon	Miramichi Bay
Keister	Quarryville	Female	Salmon	Miramichi Bay
Lawrence	Red Bank	Male	Salmon	Miramichi Bay
Lerche	Red Bank	Male	Grilse	Strait of Belle Isle
MacKay/McCleave	Red Bank	Female	Salmon	Miramichi Bay
Mapel	Red Bank	Female	Grilse	Strait of Belle Isle
McCabe	Red Bank	Female	Salmon	Strait of Belle Isle
McLellan	Red Bank	Female	Salmon	Strait of Belle Isle
MSHF	Red Bank	Female	Salmon	Strait of Belle Isle
Newell	Red Bank	Male	Grilse	Miramichi Bay
Newell	Red Bank	Male	Grilse	Miramichi Bay
Ptasynski	Red Bank	Male	Grilse	Miramichi Bay
Reed	Red Bank	Female	Grilse	Miramichi Bay
Sherer	Red Bank	Female	Salmon	Miramichi River (returned 2009)
Sherer	Red Bank	Male	Grilse	Miramichi Bay
Swazy	Red Bank	Male	Salmon	Strait of Belle Isle
Taylor	Red Bank	Female	Salmon	Miramichi River (returned 2008/2009)
Taylor	Red Bank	Male	Grilse	Strait of Belle Isle
Weiss	Red Bank	Male	Salmon	Miramichi Bay
Westaway/Ash	Red Bank	Female	Salmon	Strait of Belle Isle
Youngberg	Red Bank	Female	Grilse	Miramichi Bay
	Red Bank	Unknown	Grilse	Bartibog
	Red Bank	Female	Salmon	Eel Ground
	Red Bank	Unknown	Grilse	Miramichi Bay
	Red Bank	Male	Grilse	Miramichi River Mouth
	Red Bank	Unknown	Grilse	Strait of Belle Isle
	Quarryville	Male	Grilse	Strait of Belle Isle
	Red Bank	Unknown	Grilse	Strait of Belle Isle
	Red Bank	Male	Grilse	Strait of Belle Isle

Table 1. Table showing the kelts that were tagged in 2008 and their last known location as of Sept 1, 2009. (Returned) indicates that the fish returned to the Miramichi River to spawn and the year which it returned.

Preliminary 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 this fall.

2009 Donors	Sex	Size	Tagging Location	Last Known Location
Ash	Male	Grilse	Quarryville	Miramichi Bay
Barrow	Female	Grilse	Redbank	Miramichi Bay
Barrow	Male	Grilse	Quarryville	Miramichi Bay
Bird	Male	Grilse	Quarryville	Strait of Belle Isle
Brice	Female	Salmon	Redbank	Miramichi Bay
Brice	Male	Grilse	Quarryville	Miramichi Bay
Burns	Male	Grilse	Quarryville	Miramichi Bay
Cain/Peppin	Female	Grilse	Quarryville	Miramichi Bay
Carpenter	Male	Grilse	Quarryville	Miramichi Bay
Caty	Male	Salmon	Redbank	Miramichi Bay
Cherry	Female	Grilse	Quarryville	Strait of Belle Isle
Cobler	Female	Grilse	Redbank	Miramichi Bay
Cunningham	Male	Salmon	Quarryville	Miramichi Bay
Daigle/Starzomski	Male	Grilse	Quarryville	Strait of Belle Isle
Dodge	Male	Grilse	Redbank	Miramichi River (return 2009)
Doyle	Female	Salmon	Quarryville	Miramichi Bay
Doyle	Female	Grilse	Quarryville	Miramichi Bay
Eggleston	Female	Grilse	Redbank	Miramichi Bay
Freeman	Female	Grilse	Redbank	Miramichi Bay
Gerstmayr	Male	Salmon	Redbank	Miramichi River (return 2009)
Hibbard	Male	Salmon	Redbank	Miramichi Bay
Lord	Male	Grilse	Quarryville	Miramichi Bay
MacDonald	Female	Grilse	Redbank	Strait of Belle Isle
MacDonald	Male	Grilse	Quarryville	Miramichi Bay
Mapel	Male	Salmon	Redbank	Miramichi Bay
Mapel	Female	Grilse	Quarryville	Miramichi Bay
McCleave/MacKay	Male	Grilse	Quarryville	Miramichi Bay
McNally	Male	Grilse	Redbank	Miramichi Bay
Moisan	Male	Salmon	Redbank	Strait of Belle Isle
Moore	Male	Grilse	Redbank	Miramichi Bay
Pettit	Male	Grilse	Redbank	Miramichi Bay
Price	Male	Grilse	Redbank	Miramichi Bay
Price	Female	Salmon	Quarryville	Miramichi River (return 2009)
Reid/Poole	Male	Grilse	Quarryville	Miramichi Bay
Salmo	Male	Salmon	Redbank	Strait of Belle Isle
Sherer	Male	Salmon	Quarryville	Miramichi Bay
Thistle Fishing Club	Female	Salmon	Redbank	Miramichi River (return 2009)
Warren	Male	Grilse	Quarryville	Miramichi Bay
Westaway	Male	Grilse	Quarryville	Miramichi Bay
Wilber	Male	Grilse	Redbank	Miramichi Bay
Worth	Male	Grilse	Quarryville	Miramichi Bay
Worth	Male	Grilse	Redbank	Miramichi Bay
Zoulias	Male	Grilse	Redbank	Miramichi Bay
Zoulias	Female	Grilse	Quarryville	Miramichi Bay

Table 1. Table showing the kelts that were tagged in 2009 and their last known location as of September 1, 2009. (Return) indicates that the fish returned to the Miramichi River to spawn this fall.

Thank you to all our donors!

We want to take this opportunity to thank all of the people who donated funds towards the kelt tracking program in 2008 and 2009. There are still 7 kelts available to be sponsored for the 2009 season. If you are interested in sponsoring a kelt transmitter for the tracking program in 2009 please contact the MSA office in South Esk at 506-622-4000 or email msajenny@nb.aibn.com.

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Miramichi, NB
485 Route 420
South Esk, NB E1V 4L9
Telephone: 506-622-4000
Fax: 506-622-6111
Email: msanola@nb.aibn.com

Boiestown, NB
(Seasonal)
at the
NB Woodsman Museum

Fredericton, NB
125 Whiting Road, Suite 200
Fredericton, NB E3B 5Y5
Telephone: 506-457-2220
Fax: 506-457-1114
jlmsa@nbnet.nb.ca