This report may be downloaded from The Crown Estate website at:

 http://www.thecrownestate.co.uk/media/556880/published-eri-salmon-migration-report.pdf

The Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) is a migratory species of significant conservation and socio-economic importance around the coasts of Scotland, and in many Scottish rivers. Improving our understanding of the biology and migratory behaviour of these iconic and economically valuable fish is particularly important because of apparent long-term population declines and the possibility that migrating salmon may pass through, or close to, marine renewable energy development sites.

The main objective of this study carried out by the Environmental Research Institute, North Highland College UHI, in Thurso was to assess whether particle tracking models (PTMs) represent a viable means of providing estimates of the potential for interactions between salmon and renewable energy developments. The report synthesises existing information on salmon migration in the Scottish context and explores PTM methods for simulating salmon migration. The report’s authors conclude that hydrodynamic models have several advantages for estimating likelihood of passage through array locations, particularly in the case of the Pentland Firth.

Additionally, the results of a disparate historical set of experiments on the movements of salmon in Scotland (~3.400 records for the recapture of tagged fish) have been formalised, compiled and scrutinised to establish whether the resulting data set constitutes an informative resource for understanding salmon movements in Scottish waters.

The report’s authors believe that these outputs are likely to be of immediate value to a diverse set of stakeholders, including technology developers, conservation agencies and regulators.

The new report citation is:

Guerin, A.J., Jackson, A.C., Bowyer, P.A. and Youngson, A.F.  2014.

‘Hydrodynamic models to understand salmon migration in Scotland.’  The Crown Estate, 116 pages. ISBN: 978-1-906410-52-0.

The report may also be downloaded from the list on The Crown Estate website at:

http://www.thecrownestate.co.uk/energy-infrastructure/research/energy-research/reports/

For further information contact: Prof Mike Cowling, Chief Scientist, The Crown Estate, 16 New Burlington Place, London, W1S 2HX, mike.cowling@thecrownestate.co.uk Tel. 020 7851 5032.