Abstract
Following a failed spawning event in 1975 and the suspected absence of recent spawning by Striped Bass Morone saxatilis in the Saint John River, New Brunswick, the native Striped Bass population has been considered extirpated. Non-native migratory Striped Bass, however, still frequent the river, and a remnant, likely native, population may still exist. To characterize the movements and habitat use of adult Striped Bass still arriving to, and possibly residing within the Saint John River, Striped Bass (n = 40, size range, 40.5–90.9 cm FL) were captured throughout 2010–13 in the lower Saint John River, and surgically implanted with multi-year acoustic transmitters. Striped Bass were passively tracked using an array of 5–33 project specific receivers between 2010 and 14 and augmented by detections from the Ocean Tracking Network from 2011 to 13. Most tag detections recorded during the predicted spawning period occurred near locations suspected to have supported Striped Bass spawning historically. Only six tagged fish (15% of total) were detected outside of the river, five of which only left the river briefly during the spawning period and then returned. Tagged Striped Bass used four overwintering sites within the Saint John River to which individuals demonstrated annual fidelity. Our findings suggest the presence of a local, possibly reproducing Striped Bass population that exhibits multi-annual residency within the river; however, successful spawning remains to be confirmed.
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Acknowledgements
This research was funded by the NB Wildlife Trust Fund, the Grand Lake Meadows Endowment Fund and the Department of National Defense (DND). The authors would like to thank A. Smith, DND for initial and continued support of this research. We thank the partners in Ocean Tracking Network for sharing the data obtained by consortium receivers. William Tibble helped to collect the data, commercial fishermen in Swan Creek and Grand Lake helped with the collection of fish, and staff at the Mactaquac Biodiversity facility allowed for the tagging of fish captured at the Mactaquac Fish lift. All procedures were approved by the University of New Brunswick UNB Animal Care Committee (Animal use Protocol number 2010-026).
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Andrews, S.N., Wallace, B., Gautreau, M. et al. Seasonal movements of striped bass Morone saxatilis in a large tidal and hydropower regulated river. Environ Biol Fish 101, 1549–1558 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-018-0799-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-018-0799-y