Abstract
This research project, funded by Vattenfall European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre, investigated the spatial distribution of seaward-migrating juvenile Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and brown trout (sea trout, Salmo trutta) leaving the Rivers Dee and Don in North East Scotland.
In recent decades Atlantic salmon populations in the North East of Scotland and throughout the North Atlantic have been in serious decline across their range. Juvenile salmon exit rivers to migrate to northern feeding grounds in areas such as in the Norwegian Sea each springtime., As such the Scottish Government have identified marine developments as a potential pressure on salmon stocks where there is potential for overlap. The aim of this work was therefore to establish nearshore migration routes of salmon and habitat use of sea trout, to identify potential for overlap between migrating fish and future marine development sites. Modelling to determine the swimming vectors leading to the observed migration paths was also carried out so that this information could be applied to salmon populations from other rivers.