PNNL

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine if juvenile chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) were negatively influenced by the implantation of acoustic transmitters. The critical swimming speed (Ucrit) of tagged fish, sham (surgery but no tag), and control fish was measured in a respirometer to determine tag effects on swimming performance. Predator avoidance was evaluated by comparing the proportion of each treatment group eaten: active tag, inactive tag, sham, and control after being exposed to piscivorous adult rainbow trout (O. mykiss). Results from this study demonstrated that the surgical implantation of acoustic tags in juvenile fall chinook salmon does not significantly affect swimming performance. Swimming performance was similar between treatment groups (control, sham, and inactive tag) at 1- and 21-day post-surgery intervals. Critical swimming speeds for all treatment groups were similar to values reported in the literature. Implantation of acoustic transmitters (active and inactive) did not result in tagged fish being more susceptible to predation over untagged fish. Percentages of each prey group consumed in each of the four trials were highly variable and demonstrated no obvious selection preference by adult rainbow trout. In summary, measurable differences were not found between tagged and un-tagged fish, however, trends were consistent in the two experiments with tagged fish consistently performing slightly worse than un-tagged fish. We conclude that based on the current body of knowledge and findings of the present study, fish implanted with an acoustic tag perform and/or behave similarly to the population-at-large recognizing that subtle differences exist in the behavior of tagged fish.