The Moray Firth Tracking Project
The Atlantic Salmon Trust has taken its first steps in rolling out its vision for the Acoustic Tracking project.
Acoustic telemetry is able to identify the migration routes and areas of mortality within smolt migration which currently remain unknown yet widely debated. We now have the ability to track wild smolts further from shore than was previously possible. The AST will be working collaboratively with partners to establish a network of receiver arrays within the marine environment which enable the detection of migrating smolts as they leave the coast of the United Kingdom.
We are now able to offer sound advice in the field of telemetry which is not just limited to acoustic studies. We can aid in grant applications, study designing, methodologies, and data analysis.
The AST Acoustic Tracking project is supported by a 3-year funding package from The Fishmonger’s Company.
The AST helps support local projects with funding, which includes the Deveron, Bogie & Isla Rivers Charitable Trust 2017 Radio Tracking Project. This builds on the acoustic tracking project they conducted in 2016. Deveron Smolt Tracking Report 2016.
Benefits of a Salmonid Acoustic Tracking Network include:
- Transferring knowledge and experience
- Cost-saving on purchase of equipment
- Shared use of receiver arrays
- Co-operation with projects monitoring other iconic marine species such as whales, dolphins and sharks
- Sharing data to generate a national picture of smolt migration and mortality pinch points.
Learn more about the Moray Firth Tracking Project and the West Coast Tracking Project.