Investigations of Movements of Arctic Grayling

The primary Goal of this project is to determine the movements of Arctic Grayling with in, and exciting, from Clinton Creek, tributary to the Fortymile River near Dawson. Some seasonal movements, and particularly late season downstream migrations have been well known by locals and have formed the basis of traditional fisheries. Scientific knowledge of grayling movements has generally come from impacted areas such as the Black Hills (Montana, relict stock), Alberta (multiple stressors), and the NWT (Diamond Mines). Many of the studies are associated with Grayling stocks that move between lakes or spend much of their lives in lakes. There is very little information on stocks that spend their entire lives in streams and rivers. To address this information gap, Passive Integrated Transponder tags will be applied to ~30 adult Grayling in mid-June near the upstream limit of Arctic Grayling in Clinton Creek . Each tag has a unique code. Two monitoring stations will be installed, and will record each fish as it passes the station. Data will be downloaded at ~14 day intervals. The study will end ~October 1. The secondary Goal is to introduce the technology to interested parties in the Dawson area, including but not limited to the DDRRC and the THFN.

Proponent: Al von Finster

Contract: 2016-17-25

Amount Awarded: $7,154

Final Report: Download