The southern African inland fish tracking programme (FISHTRAC): An evaluation of the approach for monitoring ecological consequences of multiple water resource stressors, remotely and in real-time

Assessing the effect of tagging and the vulnerability to predation in tigerfish (Hydrocynus vittatus, Castelnau 1861) in a water-stressed system using telemetry methods

“…Techniques such as capture-mark-re-capture (CMR) and environmental monitoring generally lack the representation of aquatic organisms' ecological interactions and fine-scale movements within their environments (Cooke et al 2017). Increasingly telemetry techniques are being used to determine various stressors of aquatic organisms in the wild and their interactions with other organisms (Burnett et al 2020;Cooke et al 2004;Thorstad et al 2013). Telemetry techniques are employed to monitor fish within their natural environment and can provide the required information needed to understand fish behaviour and fine-scale movements (Burnett et al 2020;Wisniewska et al 2016).…”

“…Increasingly telemetry techniques are being used to determine various stressors of aquatic organisms in the wild and their interactions with other organisms (Burnett et al 2020;Cooke et al 2004;Thorstad et al 2013). Telemetry techniques are employed to monitor fish within their natural environment and can provide the required information needed to understand fish behaviour and fine-scale movements (Burnett et al 2020;Wisniewska et al 2016). Consequently, this technique has become the preferred method to study fish behaviour worldwide (Cooke et al 2013;Hussey et al 2015;Lennox et al 2017).…”

Surgical implantation of radio tags in three eel species (Anguilla spp.) in South Africa

“…Accordingly, all tagged eels were administered, intramuscularly, with Terramycin® (Zoetis, Sandton, South Africa) containing oxytetracycline (1 ml/kg) to lower the risk of post‐surgery infection. Additionally, wound gel care (Aqua Vet, Lyndenburg, South Africa) was applied to the incision site to reduce potential inflammation as per the South African Inland Fish Tracking Programme (FISHTRAC) (Burnett et al, ; OʼBrien et al ., ). In the last stage of the tagging procedure, the continuous flow of anaesthetic bath was changed for clean fresh river water, allowing for a quicker post‐surgery recovery.…”

First observation of fouling of externally attached radio transmitters in an African river

“…In southern Africa, external radio tags to monitor freshwater fish movement behaviour are increasingly being used in a range of environmental monitoring, conservation and research programmes (O'Brien et al, 2012;O'Brien et al, 2013;Burnett et al, 2018;Roux et al, 2018;Burnett et al, 2020). External radio tags are generally preferred over surgically implanted transmitters as the latter have been shown to cause 100% mortality or tag loss in a Namibian reservoir (Økland et al, 2003).…”

“…External radio tags are generally preferred over surgically implanted transmitters as the latter have been shown to cause 100% mortality or tag loss in a Namibian reservoir (Økland et al, 2003). To date, however, there have been no studies on the possible effects of external radio transmitters, nor has there been a recapture of any radio-tagged fish (Eva et al, 2005;Økland et al, 2005;Thorstad et al, 2005;O'Brien et al, 2012;O'Brien et al, 2013;Jacobs et al, 2016;Burnett et al, 2018;Roux et al, 2018;Burnett et al, 2020) that could provide evidence of potential negative effects of using this method.…”