Influence of Hydropower on Lake Ecology of Atlantic Salmon in a Changing Environment (LakES)

Informations

Funding country

Norway

Acronym

-

URL

-

Start date

1/1/2021

End date

12/31/2024

Budget

1,149,681 EUR

Fundings

Abstract

Salmon has a special position in Norwegian culture and is an important connection between people and nature. Atlantic salmon was abundant throughout Europe and Atlantic North America, but the species is disappearing throughout much of its range. Norway is the last stronghold of the salmon, having more than 25% of the remaining populations. Lessons from other countries have emphasized that salmon can disappear quickly and be difficult to restore once lost, so conservation of salmon habitat is a major priority of environmental management. One of the major threats to salmon habitat in Norway is river regulation. Dams and power stations are constructed in hundreds of Norwegian rivers and lakes, which pass water through turbines to generate hydroelectricity. Yet, little is known about how power stations affect lake habitat of salmon. Almost a third of Norwegian salmon rivers include lakes, which are most common features in glacial rivers such as many that we have in Norway. Three work packages have been designed within LaKES to study three life stages of salmon from 2021-2024 in Evanger Lake and Vassbygdi Lake. We will track salmon in the rivers and through the lakes with acoustic telemetry. Acoustic tags for salmon smolts are small and outfitted with predation sensors so that we can map where, when, and under what circumstances smolts are vulnerable to predation. This is particularly key to determine what the ultimate causes of smolt mortality are and whether lakes, and especially hydropower outlets, are hotspots for predation. For adults and kelts, tags with temperature and activity sensors help us determine how lakes are used to modulate the energy budget and whether hydropower outlets, which have different thermal regimes from the ambient water, are used by salmon for thermoregulation. The project aims to provide actionable advice to industry and management as we continue to strive for sustainable energy production and informed policy to protect nature. In 2021, we tagged 90 Atlantic salmon smolts in the river Vosso, 29 return migrant salmon in Vosso, and 31 return migrant sea trout in Aurland. Data were recovered in November 2021, providing nearly 10 million detections of these fish in the rivers and lakes. We have overseen completion of four Masters projects related to LaKES this year, including one defense scheduled for December. Our overview paper "The various ways that anadromous salmonids use lake habitats to complete their life history" was published in Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences along with multiple other directly relevant works emanating from the LaKES project. We engaged in an update meeting with the management, industry, and science partners for the project in November 2021 and received positive feedback on project progress. We also received 31 applicants for our PhD position and will complete interviews and hiring shortly. We are on track with our budget and plan for deliverables and are beginning the process of procuring equipment for the 2022 field season. We have planned for international partners to visit in 2022 and received an external scholarship for a 2 month visit from a Canadian PhD researcher to join our summer field work program as a value added opportunity for our research group and student development.