Below is a narrative from Graham Chafe of ASF’s Research Department.

Graham Chafe on Miramichi Bay 2013

Graham Chafe is a member of ASF’s Research Staff. He describes some of their recent field activities, that often starts before dawn, and continued long hours, into the evening.

Towards the end of April, Mike Best and I deployed receivers on the Miramichi River and at the mouth of the bay in preparation for the acoustic transmitters we would be implanting in the salmon. The weather was still cold and the crew, along with Alex Parker from the Miramichi Salmon Association, had to contend with ice on the bay. The receivers were placed as far up the Northwest branch as Cassilis and the Main Southwest to Millerton – a long cold, cold day but with a lot done.

Mike Best searches for passages through the ice while deploying acoustic receivers on Miramichi Bay.

We were again on the water in early May, this time deploying gear on the Baie des Chaleurs. With the help of an Anse-Bleu lobster boat and crew, 28 receivers were deployed in a line across the bay.

Eighteen of these receivers were the standard rig with an anchor, line and buoy and the receiver about six meters down. The other ten receivers were on something called “acoustic releases”. These are rigs that keep the receiver on the bottom with an eighty kilogram anchor. The receiver is about six meters above the bottom, kept somewhat vertical by a buoy providing an upward

Downloading movement data at Cassilis on the NW Miramichi.

force.  The acoustic release is an associated piece of equipment that can be communicated with from the surface using a hydrophone. When we want to retrieve the receivers, we send a coded signal through the water and the unit disengages from the anchor. The receiver and the release itself are taken to the surface by the buoy, collected and are readied for future use. This useful technology allows us to deploy gear without buoys and lines interfering with fishing and shipping activities in the area.

Kelts on the Miramichi

Alex Parker, MSA Biologist, releases one of the kelts with a satellite tag attached. ASF and MSA have worked closely in this pioneering research.

On May 5 and 6 Research Director Jon Carr and I teamed up with the Miramichi Salmon Association and others to tag kelts on the Northwest Miramichi at Red Bank. Volunteer anglers spent two days on the river catching kelts for us to tag with both acoustic tags, those that are recorded by the receivers, and Pop-up Archival Satellite tags.

The satellite tags collect depth, temperature and light information to provide a profile of where the fish have been and what kinds of environments they have passed through. The light information is used, along with an accurate internal clock, to calculate latitude and longitude in a manner similar to that used by sailors in the days before electronics.

These tags will pop off the fish if the fish dies or, if the fish remains alive, at a pre-programmed date at the end of the summer. It will float to the surface and transmit the data to ARGOS satellites. ASF staff can then download this data from their offices. It is the second year we have used this exciting technology and this will add to our understanding of the movements of adult salmon in the sea.

Thanks go out to all the anglers and volunteers who helped out with this project. We even had a visit from the Miramichi Valley High School Environmental Science class. They came out to have a look at our project and throw a few lines in the water.

This week is another busy one.

Steve Tinker is up at Rocky Brook on the Main Southwest Miramichi tagging smolts to be tracked through to the Strait of Belle Isle. The implanting of the transmitters in Northwest Miramichi smolts was just completed on the weekend and later this week Restigouche River smolt will become the focus of attention.

This week Mike Best is all over southwest New Brunswick installing temperature loggers, wading into sites along the tributaries of the Magaguadavic and other local rivers. This is a yearly activity that helps to monitor long-term changes in these watersheds.

Finally, the bypass – a downstream passage and collection facility in the hydro dam in St. George on the Magaguadavic River – is in its second week of operation. ASF staff will be monitoring it to count smolts and adults leaving the river. Many of the smolts we are counting this year were released as unfed fry in years past.

- Graham Chafe, ASF Research Staff

“The first two days were excellent, with the water low and clear,” said Keith Wilson of Wilson’s Sporting Camps. “There was still ice in the headwaters and occasional pieces on the shore. Then the water rose, became dirtier, and it was still good normal spring fishing.”

“Almost all of our anglers caught and released one MSW salmon, and many had several each day. The conditions called for sinking line, and smaller flies, of course.”

Mist descending on the Miramichi, above Boiestown.

Keith Wilson went on to note that as of 5 May anglers were still landing and releasing fish in the 30 to 34 inch range. Overall, he rated the black salmon season as similar to last year’s.

Debbie Norton of Upper Oxbow Adventures noted that by May 6 that the spring salmon were moving out and fewer were being angled.

“It was a great season, with the right level of water, and no snow to interfere with the angling,” she noted.

Acoustic Transmitters implanted in kelts and smolts. The kelt transmitters are more sophistiicated, and can provide information on temperature and depth.

Tagging Kelts – On May 6 ASF researchers led by Jonathan Carr were on the Northwest Miramichi, working as a team with staff from the Miramichi Salmon Association. With the help of First Nations fishermen catching the salmon, the researchers have been implanting acoustic tags into kelts. These transmitters produce a sound that will be recorded by anchored receivers as the fish swim down river, out through the Miramichi estuary, and across the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The researchers are also attaching satellite tags that are designed to release from the salmon and transmit to satellites when they reach the surface.

ASF staff have already deployed arrays of receivers on the Miramichi system, and across the mouth of Miramichi Bay.

Striped Bass – New this year has been a striped bass season in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence.  The fish were at a low point about 2000 and received protection, but in the past few years have been present in high numbers. Concerns were rising that with the lower returns of salmon and grilse in 2012 that the smolt-eating habits of the striped bass could be having a devastating effect. With this in mind, DFO opened a very limited 1-fish per person per day limit, with the season May 1 and May 15.

Many have been out catching the striped bass, and the centre of that fishery has begun moving slowly upstream towards the main spawning area in the Miramichi system. Debbie Norton, like others, appreciates the season being open.

“DFO has said they are allocating $100,000 for research, so hopefully that will lead to a more liberal season next year,” she notes.

Weatherwise, the Miramichi system, like much of the region, has had more than a week of bright, blue-sky days, and most are now hoping that significant rain will fall, but it appears it won’t be this week.

The Restigouche

2012 Deployment of acoustic receivers in Baie des Chaleurs – windy and cold.

ASF Researchers have already implanted acoustic transmitters in 25 kelts at the Rafting Ground on the Restigouche with the assistance of members of the Gaspe’gewag Mi’gmaq Resource Council . Arrays of receivers have now been deployed in the Restigouche and the inner Baie des Chaleurs, and a line of transmitters across the mouth of Baie des Chaleurs. Unlike last year, the winds were calm and temperatures moderate for this open-water research.

Performing surgery on kelt at the Rafting Ground, Restigouche River – late April 2013.

Following surgery and supervised recuperation, a Restigouche kelt is released by ASF’s Jonathan Carr.  It will continue its migration back to the ocean and across the Gulf of St. Lawrence – late April 2013.

Next on the ASF Research agenda will be tagging smolts on both the Miramichi and on the Restigouche, and then the Cascapedia.