As a key river habitat warms, researchers race to protect cold water patches critical to salmon survival.
Researchers have successfully used cameras operated from a helicopter to map surface water temperatures in Maine’s Narraguagus River. This is an important step toward habitat conservation for endangered Atlantic salmon and other migratory fish.
“This pilot project is part of our work to locate the habitat that we need to protect, restore, and enhance to ensure these fish can continue to live there,” said John Kocik, a researcher on the project who also leads our Atlantic salmon ecosystems research effort. “This work not only improves prospects for fish, but also for people since high-functioning watersheds are fundamental to quality of life all along the river.”
The results will provide a snapshot of surface water temperatures in the river. Researchers are particularly focused on cold-water patches that provide refuges for migratory fish as they move up and down the river. Climate change could result in fewer, warmer cold-water refuges.
Researchers are examining data collected by the cameras and will add it to what’s been collected in the same areas of the river by submerged thermometers. There’s also ongoing work to take the temperature of the river bed and the substrate below it where fish sometimes seek colder water. Together these data will form a detailed picture of temperatures in the Narraguagus. They could also help identify where cold water that feeds the river originates and relative size of these refuges under a variety of flow conditions.
Flying the Narraguagus
read more at fisheries.noaa.gov.
