Abstract
Degradation and destruction of valuable spawning and rearing habitat due to anthropogenic changes (e.g., flow modification and channelisation) is known to have dramatic impacts on fish populations. To compensate for habitat losses due to hydropower development, an artificial fluvial habitat channel (‘Compensation Creek’) was constructed in south-central Newfoundland, Canada. The creek was designed to include appropriate habitat features for the two dominant salmonid fish species, landlocked Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) and brook charr (Salvenius fontinalis Mitchell). The study examines the habitat use of landlocked Atlantic salmon and brook charr in the Compensation Creek using electromyogram (EMG) radio telemetry. Ten landlocked Atlantic salmon and eight brook charr were captured and tagged with EMG transmitters. In laboratory swimming experiments, the EMG values were calibrated against swimming speed. Fish were then released in the Compensation Creek and tracked on a daily basis. The results show that (1) during residence in the creek, both species used preferentially the habitat features designed to match their rearing habitat preferences, and (2) swimming speed did not vary among habitat types for either species.
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Acknowledgements
We thank C. Kelly (Fisheries and Oceans Canada) for assistance in the field, J. McCarthy (AMEC) for information on spawning activity and rearing habitat, S. Finucan (Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources) for providing telemetry equipment and the Environmental Services and Properties Department of Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro for in-kind and financial support at the Granite Canal Hydro Development. This research was funded by Natural Resources Canada’s (NRCan) Panel for Energy Research and Development (PERD), Northeast Science and Information Section of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Brascan Power Limited. E.C. Enders was supported by a Visiting Fellowship in Canadian Government Laboratories from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).
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Enders, E.C., Smokorowski, K.E., Pennell, C.J. et al. Habitat use and fish activity of landlocked Atlantic salmon and brook charr in a newly developed habitat compensation facility. Hydrobiologia 582, 133–142 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-006-0550-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-006-0550-0