Evaluating the northern advantage of Atlantic salmon in Nunatsiavut

Nunatsiavut is near the northern edge of the Atlantic salmon range (Clarke et al. 2005), and it is still unknown what the Atlantic salmon’s capacity is to move north and what this means for survival from a feeding and predation perspective. In Europe, salmon from southern populations have feeding grounds farther south whereas northern populations feed farther north at sea (Gilbey et al. 2021 Fish Fish). Migrations into the higher north permit feeding on more lipid rich forage fishes like Arctic cod (Boreogadus saida).
Northern ecosystems like Kapiokok Bay, Nunatsiavut are rapidly changing, with the return of Atlantic cod and porbeagle sharks, along with abundant seal populations. The early marine migration can be particularly perilous for salmon and is typically associated with high mortality due to predation. Understanding how Northern ecosystems are changing, in parallel with a better understanding of early marine movement ecology, directly yields insights into population resilience.
Kapiokok Bay was recently instrumented with acoustic receivers to better understand the local ecosystem, offering an opportunity for high resolution tracking of the smolt migration and predation risk. Individuals that survive the gauntlet during the early marine migration will continue to move northwards to feed and grow. This project will evaluate the northern advantage for Atlantic salmon: first, identify predation risk for smolts in the early marine migration using acoustic telemetry, and second, using archived scale samples from the English River counting fence to better understand spatial and temporal trends in foraging ecology for salmon near this northern range edge.