Use of Fish Telemetry in Rehabilitation Planning, Management, and Monitoring in Areas of Concern in the Laurentian Great Lakes

Abstract

Freshwater ecosystems provide many ecosystem services; however, they are often degraded as a result of human activity. To address ecosystem degradation in the Laurentian Great Lakes, Canada and the United States of America established the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA). In 1987, 43 highly polluted and impacted areas were identified under the GLWQA as having one or more of 14 Beneficial Use Impairments (BUIs) to the physical and chemical habitat for fish, wildlife and humans, and were designated as Areas of Concern (AOC). Subnational jurisdictions combined with local stakeholders, with support from federal governments, developed plans to remediate and restore these sites. Biotelemetry (the tracking of animals using electronic tags) provides information on the spatial ecology of fish in the wild relevant to habitat management and stock assessment. Here, seven case studies are presented where biotelemetry data were directly incorporated within the AOC Remedial Action Plan (RAP) process. Specific applications include determining seasonal fish-habitat associations to inform habitat restoration plans, identifying the distribution of pollutant-indicator species to identify exposure risk to contamination sources, informing the development of fish passage facilities to enable fish to access fragmented upstream habitats, and assessing fish use of created or restored habitats. With growing capacity for fish biotelemetry research in the Great Lakes, we discuss the strengths and weaknesses of incorporating biotelemetry into AOC RAP processes to improve the science and practice of restoration and to facilitate the delisting of AOCs.

The influence of dynamic environmental interactions on detection efficiency of acoustic transmitters in a large, deep, freshwater lake

“…Acoustic telemetry is a valuable tool that is used to investigate the movement and behaviour of aquatic organisms. The ability to passively track the movement of tagged individuals on fine spatial and temporal scales has played an important role in the research of aquatic ecosystems and informing fisheries management and conservation strategies [1][2][3]. Recent advances in acoustic telemetry [4,5], such as the miniaturization of transmitters and increased tag life, have enabled scientists to address questions about the fundamental ecology of aquatic organisms that were previously unattainable including their distributions, survival, spawning, habitat use, and trophic interactions [1,6,7].…”

“…We chose to analyze DE and DR in Lake Ontario because of its wide range of depths, variable habitats, seasonal fluctuations (e.g., thermal stratification, ice cover), and the availability of an extensive telemetry receiver array. Our specific objectives were: (1) to determine DR in Lake Ontario for three types of acoustic tags, (2) to examine spatial and temporal variability in DE across tags of different power output, and (3) to assess the relationship between DE and environmental variables and evaluate the relative impact of interactions between distance and environmental variables on DE.…”

Muskellunge Spatial Ecology in the St. Louis River Estuary and Southwestern Lake Superior

“…Monitoring fish populations is necessary to conserve biodiversity and ecosystem services. Traditional fishery monitoring techniques such as gill‐net or trap‐net sampling estimate population abundance or species richness as a “snapshot” in time and space (Brooks et al 2007; Rous et al 2017). Acoustic telemetry can gather fine‐ and broad‐scale data on fish habitat requirements and responses to environmental change (Crossin et al 2017).…”

Thermal Structure‐Induced Biochemical Parameters Stratification in a Subtropical Dam Reservoir

“…Implications for Drainage Management. Freshwater ecosystems provide many ecosystem services (Brooks et al, 2017) and are impacted by human activities (Dodds et al, 2013;Liu et al, 2013;Spyra, 2017). Once the man-made lakes/ reservoirs are constructed, the reallocation of the water is generally accomplished by withdrawing from the lake or discharging the lake water through the drain hole in the dam.…”