Kintama (Canada)

For anadromous Pacific salmonid (Oncorhynchus spp.) smolts, the physiological state of individuals can influence migration fate. This critical life stage is typically associated with poor survival and influences population productivity, highlighting the need to identify intrinsic factors associated with outmigration fate. To better understand and identify such factors, we combined acoustic telemetry with nonlethal gill biopsies and used high-throughput real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction to assess how infectious agents and host gene expression profiles influence migration fate for hatchery steelhead smolts (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Redundancy analyses of gene expression, infectious agent loads, and body condition highlighted gene expression profiles indicative of migratory fate. Smolts never detected after release in the river had significantly elevated expression of the immune genes Il-17D and RPL6, and lower expression of the osmoregulatory gene NKA α1b relative to other individuals. Flavobacterium psychrophilum and “Candidatus Branchiomonas cysticola” were detected in gill samples, but neither influenced survival. We demonstrate rare evidence of gene expression profiles relating to migration fate in juvenile salmonids and highlight potential mechanisms influencing fate for hatchery steelhead smolts.

We present the first data to link physiological responses and pathogen presence with subsequent fate during migration of wild salmonid smolts. We tagged and non-lethally sampled gill tissue from sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) smolts as they left their nursery lake (Chilko Lake, BC, Canada) to compare gene expression profiles and freshwater pathogen loads with migration success over the first ~1150 km of their migration to the North Pacific Ocean using acoustic telemetry. Fifteen per cent of smolts were never detected again after release, and these fish had gene expression profiles consistent with an immune response to one or more viral pathogens compared with fish that survived their freshwater migration. Among the significantly upregulated genes of the fish that were never detected postrelease were MX (interferon-induced GTP-binding protein Mx) and STAT1 (signal transducer and activator of transcription 1-alpha/beta), which are characteristic of a type I interferon response to viral pathogens. The most commonly detected pathogen in the smolts leaving the nursery lake was infectious haematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV). Collectively, these data show that some of the fish assumed to have died after leaving the nursery lake appeared to be responding to one or more viral pathogens and had elevated stress levels that could have contributed to some of the mortality shortly after release. We present the first evidence that changes in gene expression may be predictive of some of the freshwater migration mortality in wild salmonid smolts.

The impact of oceanographic processes on early marine survival of Pacific salmon is typically estimated upon adult return, 1 to 5 yr after ocean entry, and many 1000s of kilometers after initial exposure. Here, we use direct estimates of early marine survival obtained from acoustic-tagged yearling Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha that entered the Columbia River plume (USA) after migrating down the river and then north to the coastal waters off Willapa Bay, Washington. Plume residence time averaged 7 d, and was of such short duration that predation, rather than feeding and growth conditions, was the likely primary cause of mortality. Plume survival ranged from 0.13 to 0.86, but was stable when scaled by plume residence time, and we find that a simple exponential decay model adequately describes plume survival. Plume survival, and perhaps adult returns, could be improved by reducing plume residence time if the drivers controlling residence time were amenable to management control. However, we show that a statistical model of plume residence time that includes only sea-surface temperature far outperforms models that include river discharge and coastal upwelling. Timing hatchery releases using marine environmental forecasts could potentially improve smolt survival by minimizing their residence time in regions of poor survival. Acoustic telemetry may be used to evaluate the value and effectiveness of such approaches.

Abstract To assess the potential impact of “tag effect” on seaward‐migrating Coho Salmon Oncorhynchus kisutch, presmolt juveniles were surgically implanted with acoustic transmitters followed by exposure to freshwater (FW, 0‰ salinity) or seawater (SW; 30‰ salinity) for 24 h and then subjected to repeated critical swimming speed (Ucrit) trials. Three different experimental tag‐treatment groups were established: control (no surgery), sham (surgery but no tag), and tagged (surgically implanted tag), with a range of 9–12 fish in each group. Tagged fish were implanted with Vemco V6 dummy acoustic transmitters (DAT: 17.0 mm long × 6 mm diameter, 1.0 g in air). After completion of two Ucrit trials, separated by a recovery period, all fish were euthanized and sampled to determine hematocrit (Hct) and plasma osmolality. In the FW exposure, the mean Ucrit of the control treatment was significantly higher than that of the tagged treatment (P = 0.04). No significant differences in swimming performance were observed among the SW treatment groups, and no significant differences were observed between Ucrit trials (Ucrit1 and Ucrit2) for any of the experimental treatments groups. Seawater exposure did, however, result in slightly reduced, but not statistically different, swimming speeds and concomitantly higher plasma osmolalities (P < 0.001) compared with FW exposure. Predictions made with data from this study suggest that sample sizes (per tag treatment) of n = 25 are sufficient to detect a 15–20% difference in Ucrit sample means with 80% power. Collectively, these data do not provide substantial statistical evidence that the swimming performance of juvenile Coho Salmon tagged with surgically implanted acoustic transmitters is significantly reduced compared with untagged fish.

Abstract Juvenile hatchery‐reared Sockeye Salmon Oncorhynchus nerka from Cultus Lake, British Columbia, were implanted during their smolt phase with one of three sizes of dummy acoustic tags to assess how tag burden (tag mass: body mass ratios ranging from 1.3% to 13.6% in air) influenced prolonged swimming performance, survival, and postsurgical wound healing in freshwater for up to 16.5 d and following a transition to seawater for 9 d. Tagged fish were compared with surgical shams and control fish (no tag, no surgery). Fish subjected to sham surgery treatments had mean swim times similar to those of control fish; however, tagged fish had a significantly lower probability of swimming the mean time of nontagged control fish. In addition, we found that the effect of tagging on swimming performance was exacerbated by tag burden and that higher tag burdens decreased the swimming performance of tagged individuals. Fish with tag burdens ≥8% had shorter swimming durations than fish with tag burdens <8%. The incisions of fish implanted with smaller tags healed more quickly than those of fish implanted with the largest tag. Overall, survival was high (≥95%) and in freshwater mortalities only occurred in fish that had tag burdens greater than 6%. These findings have important implications for studies using tagging technologies to examine the behavior and survival of migrating salmon smolts.

BackgroundMigrations allow animals to find food resources, rearing habitats, or mates, but often impose considerable predation risk. Several behavioural strategies may reduce this risk, including faster travel speed and taking routes with shorter total distance. Descriptions of the natural range of variation in migration strategies among individuals and populations is necessary before the ecological consequences of such variation can be established.Methodology/Principal FindingsMovements of tagged juvenile coho, steelhead, sockeye, and Chinook salmon were quantified using a large-scale acoustic tracking array in southern British Columbia, Canada. Smolts from 13 watersheds (49 watershed/species/year combinations) were tagged between 2004–2008 and combined into a mixed-effects model analysis of travel speed. During the downstream migration, steelhead were slower on average than other species, possibly related to freshwater residualization. During the migration through the Strait of Georgia, coho were slower than steelhead and sockeye, likely related to some degree of inshore summer residency. Hatchery-reared smolts were slower than wild smolts during the downstream migration, but after ocean entry, average speeds were similar. In small rivers, downstream travel speed increased with body length, but in the larger Fraser River and during the coastal migration, average speed was independent of body length. Smolts leaving rivers located towards the northern end of the Strait of Georgia ecosystem migrated strictly northwards after ocean entry, but those from rivers towards the southern end displayed split-route migration patterns within populations, with some moving southward.Conclusions/SignificanceOur results reveal a tremendous diversity of behavioural migration strategies used by juvenile salmon, across species, rearing histories, and habitats, as well as within individual populations. During the downstream migration, factors that had strong effects on travel speeds included species, wild or hatchery-rearing history, watershed size and, in smaller rivers, body length. During the coastal migration, travel speeds were only strongly affected by species differences.

To investigate reasons for the decline of an endangered population of coho salmon (O. kisutch), 190 smolts were acoustically tagged during three consecutive years and their movements and survival were estimated using the Pacific Ocean Shelf Tracking project (POST) array. Median travel times of the Thompson River coho salmon smolts to the lower Fraser River sub-array were 16, 12 and 10 days during 2004, 2005 and 2006, respectively. Few smolts were recorded on marine arrays. Freshwater survival rates of the tagged smolts during their downstream migration were 0.0-5.6% (0.0-9.0% s.e.) in 2004, 7.0% (6.2% s.e.) in 2005, and 50.9% (18.6% s.e.) in 2006. Overall smolt-to-adult return rates exhibited a similar pattern, which suggests that low freshwater survival rates of out-migrating smolts may be a primary reason for the poor conservation status of this endangered coho salmon population.

Many coho salmon stocks (Oncorhynchus kisutch) have been in decline during the past three decades. Canada’s most endangered salmon stock, the Thompson River coho salmon, is being studied extensively as managers attempt to reverse these population declines. Investigators are using acoustic telemetry to track the migratory behaviour and survival of the Thompson River (and other) coho salmon stocks. Coho salmon pre-smolts are relatively small compared with salmonid species that are typically studied using acoustic telemetry; therefore the identification of the appropriate sizes of fish and tags to use is critical. This study tested the effects of surgically implanting the three smallest sizes of acoustic tags currently available on the growth, survival, tag retention, swimming performance and physical condition of coho salmon pre-smolts for 300 days post-surgery. Maximum tag size to body size ratios ranged from 15–17% by fork length and 7–8% by mass for the three tag sizes (11 cm fork length for a 6 × 19 mm tag, 12.5 cm for a 7 × 19 mm tag, and 14 cm for a 9 × 21 mm tag). Based on our results, it is unlikely that coho salmon pre-smolts implanted with acoustic transmitters following these size guidelines would have poor survival in studies of freshwater migratory behaviour as a result of the surgery or the tag.