Salmon traverse upstream and downstream from Beothuk Lake dam (Exploits River)

The Exploits River is by far the largest watershed on the island of Newfoundland, but the number of anadromous salmon that it produces per unit habitat is much lower than an average Newfoundland river. A major reason why is likely due to the upper parts of the watershed not being effectively used by anadromous salmon.

Beothuk Lake dam on the Exploits River uses an elevator that is used to hoist upstreaming

migrating salmon over the dam. Although 60% of the water in the Exploits comes from upstream of this dam, on average 2% (461 fish) of the salmon that enter the river each year make it above it. We know virtually nothing of their fate once they go over it.

This project will seek to determine which of the major tributaries above Beothuk Lake dam tagged salmon enter for spawning, precise spawning locations for a subset of them, and the fate of kelt the following spring as they attempt to get back to sea. Given 10-15% of anadromous fish in the Exploits are repeat spawners, the fate of kelt is important. The Grand Falls dam is a known problem for downstream kelt migration; the Beothuk Lake dam could potentially be worse.