Spawning dynamics of American shad (<i>Alosa sapidissima</i>) in the St. Lawrence River, Canada–USA

Maltais, E.; Daigle, Gaétan; Colbeck, Gabriel J.; Dodson, Julian J.

doi:10.1111/j.1600-0633.2010.00439.x

Cited by 16 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Detections from the spring of 2011 may not have been recorded when one of the Veazie proximity receivers was inactive for approximately 9 d. Marked fish may have incurred handling (Bailey et al 2004) or tagging effects (Corbett et al 2012) that made them less likely to approach the dam, or may have been deterred by the turbulence and shadows created by the dam itself (Haro and Castro-Santos 2012). Lastly, study fish may have approached the dam prior to capture and may have progressed to downstream spawning sites (Maltais et al 2010) by the time they were tagged and monitored.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Movements and Demography of Spawning American Shad in the Penobscot River, Maine, prior to Dam Removal

2014

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We conducted a baseline study to better understand the migratory movements and age and spawning histories of American Shad Alosa sapidissima in the Penobscot River, Maine. The Penobscot River is currently undergoing a major dam removal project that is focused on restoring migratory connectivity and recovering diadromous fish populations including American Shad. This study addresses key data gaps for a previously unstudied native population of shad prior to restoration. A combination of radio-(n = 70) and acoustic telemetry (n = 14) was used to investigate the movements of migratory adult fish in 2010 and 2011. Scale-based analyses were used to assess spawner age and iteroparity. Radiotelemetry results indicated that few tagged fish (5-8%) approached the head-of-tide dam. Tagged fish exhibited three general patterns of movement in the accessible freshwater river habitat: use of the upper river reach, the lower river reach, or both. Mean freshwater residence time ranged from 9.1 to 14.0 d. Congregating fish were observed at two sites in the upper river reach and spawning activity was observed. Freshwater survival and survival to the estuary were at least 71%. This observed high survival was consistent with the estimated age and spawning histories of tracked fish, which indicated that 75-95% of the sampled fish were repeat spawners. Estimated age of adult migrants ranged from age 4 to age 9. Postspawning acoustic-tagged American Shad exhibited a series of prolonged upstream and downstream reversals upon entering the lower estuary. These movements have been previously unreported, and suggest that estuarine residency after spawning is important to osmoregulatory acclimatization for re-entry into salt water and the resumption of postspawning feeding activity.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Movements and Demography of Spawning American Shad in the Penobscot River, Maine, prior to Dam Removal

2014

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“…This is counterintuitive to the reported spawning behavior of female Alewives, which suggests that spent fish move rapidly downstream and pass later migrants on their way upstream to spawning grounds (Cooper 1961;Kissil 1974;Collette and Klein-MacPhee 2002). It is possible that this individual was not completely spent, and this behavior may be further evidence of batch spawning, as documented in Alewives by Ganais et al (2015) and similarly in American Shad (Olney et al 2001;Maltais et al 2010). Male Alewives and both sexes of Blueback Herring behavior appeared less influenced by the tagging event.…”

Section: Posttagging Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

Handling and Tagging Effects, In‐River Residence Time, and Postspawn Migration of Anadromous River Herring in the Hudson River, New York

Eakin

2017

Mar Coast Fish

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In a 2013 pilot study, acoustic tags were inserted into two species of river herring, Alewife Alosa pseudoharengus and Blueback Herring Alosa aestivalis. The primary objectives were to identify handling and tagging effects and assess inriver residence time. The secondary objective was to identify postspawn coastal migration patterns. Fish were collected on spawning grounds in the upper portion of the Hudson River, New York. Vemco V7 acoustic transmitters were gastrically inserted into 25 river herring (13 Alewives and 12 Blueback Herring) that were in pre, active, or post spawning conditions. In-river acoustic data were collected from 23 of the 25 river herring. The majority of tagged fish exhibited some level of fallback (downstream migration) after the tagging event, all Blueback Herring and all male Alewives returning to spawning areas. The majority of female Alewives did not return to the spawning area after tagging, and this may be a result of when and where tagging events occurred. Both species of river herring exhibited similar in-river residence times of approximately 2-3 weeks and exited the system 3-6 d after spawning. Information on coastal movements of four Blueback Herring (two females and two males) was also obtained, spanning the south shore of Long Island, New York, to the mouth of Penobscot Bay, Maine. Coastal and in-river tag detections were reported by members of the Atlantic Cooperative Telemetry Network. In conclusion, this experiment can now be repeated with confidence on a larger scale with multiyear tags in order to identify unknown in-river spawning areas, provide information regarding spawning site fidelity, and bolster current knowledge of coastal migration patterns for both species.

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“…At high-latitude locations, where the proportion of repeat spawners is high, the protection of postspawning adults becomes a high priority. In certain cases, the downstream passage of adults may be as important as or more important than the upstream passage in terms of the total reproductive potential for a particular watershed (Castro-Santos and Letcher 2010; Maltais et al 2010).…”

Section: Summary: Paradigms and Realitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Passage of American Shad: Paradigms and Realities

Haro

Castro‐Santos

2012

Mar Coast Fish

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Despite more than 250 years of development, the passage of American shad Alosa sapidissima at dams and other barriers frequently remains problematic. Few improvements in design based on knowledge of the swimming, schooling, and migratory behaviors of American shad have been incorporated into passage structures. Large-scale technical fishways designed for the passage of adult salmonids on the Columbia River have been presumed to have good performance for American shad but have never been rigorously evaluated for this species. Similar but smaller fishway designs on the East Coast frequently have poor performance. Provision of effective downstream passage for both juvenile and postspawning adult American shad has been given little consideration in most passage projects. Ways to attract and guide American shad to both fishway entrances and downstream bypasses remain marginally understood. The historical development of passage structures for American shad has resulted in assumptions and paradigms about American shad behavior and passage that are frequently unsubstantiated by supporting data or appropriate experimentation. We propose that many of these assumptions and paradigms are either unfounded or invalid and that significant improvements to American shad upstream and downstream passage can be made via a sequential program of behavioral experimentation, application of experimental results to the physical and hydraulic design of new structures, and controlled tests of large-scale prototype structures in the laboratory and field.

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Spawning dynamics of American shad (Alosa sapidissima) in the St. Lawrence River, Canada–USA

Cited by 16 publications

References 17 publications

Movements and Demography of Spawning American Shad in the Penobscot River, Maine, prior to Dam Removal

Movements and Demography of Spawning American Shad in the Penobscot River, Maine, prior to Dam Removal

Handling and Tagging Effects, In‐River Residence Time, and Postspawn Migration of Anadromous River Herring in the Hudson River, New York

Passage of American Shad: Paradigms and Realities

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