The West Coast Tracking Project is a unique study that will advance our understanding of the marine migratory distribution of wild Atlantic salmon across the West Coast of Scotland.
Right now, there is little exact information about our smolts’ swimming behaviour and what happens to young salmon as they journey around our coasts. This presents a number of problems when trying to safeguard this important species. If we do not have detailed knowledge about their migration routes, for example, we cannot make informed decisions to minimise the impact of the dangers they face.
This ambitious work will add to our knowledge, tracking wild Atlantic salmon over a three-year period to better understand their migration routes and, ultimately, to provide information on how best to look after them. This insightful project covers a huge geographical area, covering the south of Scotland with Dumfries and Galloway, right up to the North of Scotland and the Outer Hebrides. To carry out this study within the extensive area is a huge undertaking – especially all being subject to the extremes of Scottish weather.
Working Together to Save Salmon
Atlantic Salmon Trust, Fisheries Management Scotland and Marine Scotland Science are working in partnership to improve our knowledge, with the ultimate aim of supporting wild fish populations. The project is governed by a steering group compromising the three partner organisations – ensuring an independent and scientific approach.
The planning, design and deployment of equipment for this project are directed, entirely, by the three project partners.
Other Major Initiatives Taking Place
The West Coast Tracking Project isn’t happening in isolation. There are other major initiatives currently taking place across the UK, such as SeaMonitor, COMPASS and the MEFS MPA Project. Crucially, the tags and receivers across these projects are all compatible with one another. This means salmon will be detected on all of the arrays, which will lead to a far greater understanding of how these fish are moving out to sea.
Modelling Smolt Migration
The migration of smolts depends on a number of factors, including their swimming behaviour and the ocean currents. These can be combined with scientific models, such as Marine Scotland’s Smolt Migration Model, to make predictions of where the fish go under different conditions. The West Coast Tracking Project is being used to support and strengthen Marine Scotland’s Smolt Migration Model by providing additional information on smolts distribution at sea and finding out more about their likely swimming behaviour.
Together with studies of local?movements of smolts through specific sea lochs, this information will ensure that a good understanding of the distributions of salmon smolts is included as part of the marine planning process.
The West Coast Tracking Project: 2021 Activity
In Spring 2021, 24 in-river receivers and 228 marine receivers were deployed from the northwest coast of Scotland, around the Western Isles, all the way down to Dumfries and Galloway. This momentous task could not have happened without the wealth of help & support from our incredible project partners, Boards & Trusts and the determined individuals who dedicated their time to make this project happen.
Watch our short film which documents this ground breaking work carried out in Spring 2021.
West Coast Tracking Project Initial Findings and 2022 Activity
This project is starting to indicate migratory patterns and preferences, including how individual smolts move through sea lochs and their speed of travel. The early findings, from the 2021 tracking season, also show that our salmon smolts disperse widely along the west coast and migrate using many different routes. This short animation details initial findings from the project’s first year.
The design for the 2022 project has been shaped and guided by the information we gained from Year 1 of the study. We will be concentrating our efforts closer to shore to get a better understanding of the vital first few days our smolts spend at sea, by investigating their speed and timings through the sea lochs in much greater detail.
Funding the West Coast Tracking Project
The project is financially supported by the Scottish Government’s Maritime Fisheries Fund, and significant private and industry contributions – including the aquaculture industry. The project is also supported by voluntary contributions of time and resources across the West Coast of Scotland, and from generous AST donors.
A full financial breakdown of income and expenditure can be viewed here.
All funds contributed to the West Coast Tracking Project are restricted – meaning that they can only be used solely for this project and not for other purposes. There are no contractual arrangements or agreements, formal or informal, with any external members or industries that dictate, influence or restrict the design or results of this study, or the activities of the project partners.