The Use of Biotelemetry in Management of Areas of Concern in the Laurentian Great Lakes

Abstract

Substantial efforts have been made to rehabilitate freshwater ecosystems and fish populations around the globe. In this thesis, I illustrate how biotelemetry can be used to complement traditional fish sampling methods to guide efforts to rehabilitate fish populations and habitat. I highlight several case studies within the Laurentian Great Lakes where biotelemetry is being used at various planning and monitoring stages, and used biotelemetry to monitor and inform the fish rehabilitation efforts in Hamilton Harbour, Lake Ontario. Walleye (Sander vitreus) have been reintroduced into the Harbour during 1992-2016. Biotelemetry revealed that mature walleye spent the majority of the study (October 2015-2016) within the Harbour, did not migrate out of the Harbour during spring spawning season, and that their home range extent was significantly reduced in the summer. These findings provided locations for future stocking and natural recruitment research and guided further research into the effects of summer hypoxia on walleye movements.iii

A role for lakes in revealing the nature of animal movement using high dimensional telemetry systems

“…This effectively closes the spatiotemporal gaps limiting earlier impact studies, and allows for very detailed investigations of behavioral effects at an unprecedented scale. Although still in its infancy, fine-scale tracking studies in lakes have already contributed significantly to our understanding of the behavioural impact of anthropogenic activities, such as recreational fishery, habitat degradation and damming [23,39,139].…”