A review of the fishes and fisheries of Minas Basin and Minas Passage, Nova Scotia, and their potential risk from tidal power development

Dadswell, Michael J.; Rulifson, Roger A.

doi:10.15273/pnsis.v51i1.10735

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…Dadswell et al. (1986) and Dadswell and Rulifson (1994, 2021) expressed significant concerns over potential widespread impacts of tidal energy turbines leading to significant declines in fish abundance. Autopsies of dead fish downstream of the tidal barrage at Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia (built between 1980 and 1984), indicated that the deaths were caused by mechanical strike, pressure change, shearing, and cavitation (Dadswell et al.…”

Section: Current State Of Knowledgementioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of River Herring Science in Support of Species Conservation and Ecosystem Restoration

et al. 2021

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River herring—a collective name for the Alewife Alosa pseudoharengus and Blueback Herring A. aestivalis—play a crucial role in freshwater and marine ecosystems along the Eastern Seaboard of North America. River herring are anadromous and return to freshwater habitats in the tens to hundreds of millions to spawn, supplying food to many species and providing nutrients to freshwater ecosystems. After two and a half centuries of habitat loss, habitat degradation, and overfishing, river herring are at historic lows. In 2013, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries established the Technical Expert Working Group (TEWG) to synthesize information about river herring and to provide recommendations to advance the science related to their restoration. This paper was composed largely by the chairs of the TEWG subgroups and represents a review of the current state of knowledge of river herring, with an emphasis on identification of threats and discussion of recent research and management actions related to understanding and reducing these threats. Important research needs are then identified and discussed. Finally, current knowledge is synthesized, considering the relative importance of different threats. This synthesis identifies dam removal and increased stream connectivity as critical to river herring restoration. Better understanding and accounting for predation, climate change, and fisheries are also important for restoration. Finally, there is recent evidence that the effects of human development and contamination on habitat quality may be more important threats than previously recognized. Given the range of threats, an ecosystem approach is needed to be successful with river herring restoration. To facilitate this ecosystem approach, collaborative forums such as the TEWG (renamed the Atlantic Coast River Herring Collaborative Forum in 2020) are needed to share and synthesize information among river herring managers, researchers, and community groups from across the species’ range.

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Section: Current State Of Knowledgementioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of River Herring Science in Support of Species Conservation and Ecosystem Restoration

et al. 2021

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“…Each year, approximately 24 species of large fish, including Atlantic sturgeon ( Acipenser oxyrhinchus Mitchill, 1815) migrate into MB through MP (Dadswell & Rulifson, 2021). Atlantic sturgeon is a large anadromous long‐lived species (Vladykov & Greely, 1963) and in North America, ranges from the Gulf of Mexico to the Labrador Sea (Backus, 1951).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Atlantic sturgeon presence in a designated marine hydrokinetic test site prior to turbine deployment: A baseline study

et al. 2021

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In 2009, the Fundy Ocean Research Centre for Energy (FORCE) developed a 1.6 x 1.0 km Crown Lease Area (CLA) to test Marine Hydrokinetic devices (MHKs) in Minas Passage (MP), a strait that connects the Bay of Fundy to Minas Basin (MB), Nova Scotia. Minas Basin is an important summer feeding aggregation site for numerous fishes including Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus Mitchill, 1815) stocks from Canada and the US. In this study, acoustic tagging technology was used to describe sturgeon presence in the CLA, as well as an adjacent site proposed for MHKs deployment. During 2018 and 2019, 33.9% (n = 19/56 Atlantic sturgeon tagged) and 29.9% (n = 23/77 Atlantic sturgeon tagged) respectively, of sturgeon acoustically tagged in MB during 2014–2019 were detected in these two FORCE sites. Binomial General Linear Models (GLMs) were fit to determine if environmental parameters influenced the presence, or depth of Atlantic sturgeon in the FORCE sites. The only significant predictor of Atlantic sturgeon depth and presence at the FORCE sites was tide type. Atlantic sturgeon was found to have a higher likelihood of being detected during ebb tide (12%) as opposed to flood tide (3%). Apparent decline in the presence of sturgeon during flood tide was probably due to poor signal reception caused by turbulence from higher current speeds. Tagged sturgeon travelled through the FORCE sites pelagically at similar depths (27.5 ± 14.57 m) to those proposed for seabed mounted MHKs (~30 m), travelling deeper during flood tide than ebb, suggesting they may be at risk of spatial overlap with MHKs. While this study indicated that the duration Atlantic sturgeon utilized the FORCE sites throughout the summer appeared to be low, sturgeon from both endangered and threatened stocks migrated through this region during their yearly entry and exit to MB and were present for approximately 12% of the days assessed in this study.

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Alewife and Blueback Herring Captured by Intertidal Weirs of the Inner Bay of Fundy, Canada, Display Seasonal Demographics that Suggest Multiple Migrating Stocks

Rulifson

Dadswell

2020

Mar Coast Fish

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Little information is available concerning the seasonal demographics of marine migrating Alewife Alosa pseudoharengus and Blueback Herring A. aestivalis, reported in commercial fisheries as “gaspereau” in Canada and “river herring” in the USA. Once adults and age‐0 juveniles depart from coastal spawning rivers, they migrate along the North American Atlantic coast and are difficult to access for scientific analysis. During June–October 1985, a total of 3,785 Alewife and 2,343 Blueback Herring were examined for length, sex, and gonadal stage from commercial intertidal fishing weirs in Minas Basin and Cobequid Bay, Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia. Of these, 999 adults were subsampled for total weight and body cavity fat deposits. Both species first appeared in the weirs during June, when Blueback Herring generally dominated catches. By July, catches were evenly divided between the two species, and Alewife dominated after mid‐August. Most adults were mature, and there was no discernable sex ratio pattern during the sampling period. Sampled fish exhibited abrupt changes in length, gonadal stage, condition factor, and abdominal wall and visceral mesentery fat deposits in relation to season (week), moon phase, and time of low tide. Sudden shifts in average lengths and fat deposits suggested that migrating Alewife were from different stocks. For Blueback Herring, the condition and status of fat deposits during June suggested that they were probably long‐distance adult migrators. Blueback Herring in Cobequid Bay weirs during July were probably from local stocks. Results from a total of 12,422 tagged adults that were released in Minas Basin and Cobequid Bay during 1985 supported these findings. We propose that shifts in condition and fat deposits can be used to estimate migration distance, discriminating among local, regional, and long‐distance movements.

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A review of the fishes and fisheries of Minas Basin and Minas Passage, Nova Scotia, and their potential risk from tidal power development

Cited by 3 publications

References 60 publications

A Review of River Herring Science in Support of Species Conservation and Ecosystem Restoration

A Review of River Herring Science in Support of Species Conservation and Ecosystem Restoration

Atlantic sturgeon presence in a designated marine hydrokinetic test site prior to turbine deployment: A baseline study

Alewife and Blueback Herring Captured by Intertidal Weirs of the Inner Bay of Fundy, Canada, Display Seasonal Demographics that Suggest Multiple Migrating Stocks

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