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ICES Journal of Marine Science: Journal du Conseil Advance Access originally published online on January 12, 2009
ICES Journal of Marine Science: Journal du Conseil 2009 66(2):278-288; doi:10.1093/icesjms/fsn213
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© 2009 International Council for the Exploration of the Sea. Published by Oxford Journals. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Vertical movements of "escaped" farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.)—a simulation study in a western Norwegian fjord

Ove T. Skilbrei, Jens Christian Holst, Lars Asplin and Marianne Holm

Institute of Marine Research, PO Box 1870, Nordnes, NO-5817 Bergen, Norway

Correspondence to O. T. Skilbrei: tel: +47 55 236894; fax: +47 55 238531; e-mail: ove.skilbrei{at}imr.no

Skilbrei, O. T., Holst, J. C., Asplin, L., and Holm, M. 2009. Vertical movements of "escaped" farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.)—a simulation study in a western Norwegian fjord. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 66: 278–288.

To study the vertical distribution of fish that had been allowed to escape, farmed Atlantic salmon were tagged with acoustic tags equipped with depth sensors, and then released on five different dates in the course of a year from two fish farms in the Hardanger Fjord in western Norway. Release stimulated the fish to dive to deeper than 15 m during the first hours or days post-release, often down to 50–80 m. However, during the following 4 weeks, most of the escapees spent most of their time above the pycnocline at depths of 0–4 m. The fish were more widely distributed in the water column after release during winter, but still spent most of the time in the cold surface layers. There was a wide range in the vertical distribution of individual fish, and the proportion of detections below 14-m depth ranged from 0 to 90%. There was a significant diurnal cycle in all seasons except midsummer, when the fish were less abundant in the upper layer during daylight, especially on brighter days. The results suggest that salmon diving activity following escape may complicate the recapture of escaped fish at the farm site but that the subsequent tendency of most fish to stay near the surface, virtually irrespective of the time of year, may facilitate recapture.

Keywords: escaped farmed salmon, swimming depth, vertical distribution

Received 6 June 2008; accepted 18 November 2008; advance access publication 12 January 2009.


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