19 April 2017
Smolt Tagging
Cromarty Firth Fisheries’ biologists are busy trapping smolts from the Conon tributaries and transporting them for release in the lower River Conon.
As part of the mitigation for the Conon hydro scheme, around 7000 salmon smolts are trapped annually in the River Bran, and transported around the hydro scheme by road. Around 1000 of these smolts are tagged with electronic chips before release. When the adult fish return the tags are detected by decoders as they pass through the hydro dams – about 4% of the tagged smolts have returned as adult salmon in recent years.
We've posted a short video showing the work on our SalmonQuestTV on YouTube: