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Acoustic receiver network in an important shipping canal, connecting the river Meuse with the Port of Antwerp (Scheldt river) to asses downstream migration of eel and salmon in an artificial environment with a hydropower station and shipping locks.
Citation
Contact: Coeck, Johan
Availability: Creative Commons License This dataset is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Description
This network enables to study how fish migrate downstream from the river Meuse and which route (Meuse river or Albert canal to the river Scheldt) they take and how they are affected by the shipping locks, the hydropower station and the specific, anthropogenic, complex hydrodynamics that the shipping locks create. In several years, from 2013 onwards, silver eel and hatched salmon smolts were tagged with acoustic tags and released in the river Meuse and the Albert canal to investigate this. The tagged fish are tracked by the acoustic receivers that are installed (one dimensional) in the river Meuse, the Albert canal and the river Scheldt, as well as by 2 dimensional positioning direct upstream of one of the six shipping lock complexes, in Kwaadmechelen. The study is as well enabled by the installation of receivers in the Meuse river in the Netherlands in cooperation with Sportvisserij Nederland (see Maas Nederland network project). more

Navigation locks play an important role for ship navigation on canals and other regulated waterways worldwide. Unfortunately, these structures may severely impact the aquatic ecosystem and freshwater fish in particular. In Belgium (Europe), the Albert Canal connecting the river Meuse to the river Scheldt, is an important migration route for European eel (Anguilla anguilla, critically endangered) and Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar, vulnerable). During their downstream migration (respectively silver eel and salmon smolt phases) these fish are hampered by six subsequent navigation lock complexes present in the canal. In the coming years, Archimedes screws are to be installed next to these complexes. These can function both as pumping stations and hydropower generators. A first installation is already present at the navigation lock complex of Kwaadmechelen
Scope
Themes:
Biology > Ecology - biodiversity, Biology > Fish
Keywords:
Fresh water, Acoustic telemetry, Acoustic Telemetry, Fish migration, Migration barriers, Ship canals, Smolts, Tracking data, Belgium, Albert Canal, Anguilla anguilla (Linnaeus, 1758), Salmo salar Linnaeus, 1758
Geographical coverage
Belgium, Albert Canal [Marine Regions]
Temporal coverage
From 2013 on [In Progress]
Taxonomic coverage
Anguilla anguilla (Linnaeus, 1758) [WoRMS]
Salmo salar Linnaeus, 1758 [WoRMS]
Contributors
Vlaamse overheid; Beleidsdomein Omgeving; Instituut voor Natuur- en Bosonderzoek (INBO), more, data creator
Coeck, Johan
Pauwels, Ine
Baeyens, Raf
Universiteit Gent (UGent), more, data creator
Verhelst, Pieterjan
Vergeynst, Jenna
Related datasets
Parent datasets:
European Tracking Network (ETN) data, more
LifeWatch observatory data: fish acoustic receiver network, more
Dataset status: In Progress
Data type: Data
Data origin: Sensor platform
Metadatarecord created: 2018-01-03
Information last updated: 2018-01-03
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