Algonquin Lakes Acoustic Array

Listening in on where fish live

Acoustic receivers and receiver arrays are providing new insights into the ecology of fish that are amazing.  At Harkness, we have InnovaSea receivers to deploy as acoustic arrays in small to medium size lakes. Below are descriptions of projects utilizing our acoustic technology and the kinds of questions we are and have been addressing...

Stringer Lake Brook Trout M3 Long-term Project

Our newest acoustic array effort will be focused on brook trout in Stringer Lake in Algonquin Park. This is a return to the lake for us but this time our focus is on an integrated effort to monitor and assess effects of climate warming on a small, self-sustaining brook trout population. The project has three general components (the M3 label): 1) monitoring lake oxythermal habitat throughout the year along with other limnological parameters that are part of brook trout habitat; 2) mark-recapture of individually tagged brook trout for Joly-Seber estimation of population size and survival, and 3) movement of brook trout using an acoustic array. Starting in 2022, tagging and tissue samples will be underway with individual tags applied and tissues for genetic analysis and isotopic profiles. Tissues will over time provide individual longitudinal profiles of isotopic niche for fish and construction of relatedness of all brook trout. In 2023, an acoustic array will be established to track movements of fish over years. Collectively, this project will determine how brook trout are coping with climate change and its effects on habitat.

Smoke, Canoe & Tea Lakes Acoustic Array 2021-2025

Our recent work with acoustic arrays is the largest one so far. Beginning in 2021, a connected, multi-lake acoustic array system was established in three Algonquin Park lakes: Smoke, Canoe and Tea Lakes. The SCT project involves scientists from four Ontario universities, Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources & Forestry. The movements of lake trout, smallmouth bass, burbot and white sucker are being tracked for several years. Questions on seasonal habitat use, food web dynamics and connectivity with movement ecology, and linkages with physical limnology are at the core of the research effort. A summary of this project (IR-22) can be downloaded from our publications page under the Aquatic Algonquin Park label

Lake Trout IV - Type 1 Lake Trout:

In 2017, we are returning to lake trout tracking with the acoustic array in Algonquin Park.  We partition lake trout food webs into Types 1, 2, and 3 based on the presence of Mysis and the presence of prey fish such as cisco.  Type 1 lake trout food webs have neither Mysis or cisco as prey fish and result in smaller body lake trout relative to Type 2 (cisco and no Mysis) or Type 3 (cisco and Mysis) lakes.  The movement ecology is quite different than other lake trout populations and this results in basic differences in availability to sampling gear, among many aspects of their ecology.  Understanding the availability to monitoring gear has been a major element of the acoustic array projects for both lake trout and brook trout.  Generally, lake trout in Type 1 food webs are less detectable than in other food webs.  The lake is to be determined this winter and installation will occur in the spring after ice-out.

Brook Trout II - Welcome Lake:

The acoustic array was installed in winter 2014 (Jan-Feb) to track movements of brook trout in a lake system larger than Scott/Stringer Lakes.  One clear result from our earlier movement research and multi-pass netting surveys was the close association of brook trout with the thermocline during summer lake stratification.  Since thermocline depth is predicatable from lake surface area we believe a larger lake will shift downward the occurrence of brook trout - and from an applied perspective, this results in a change in availability to monitoring gear as a function of depth.  The work on Welcome Lake will address this prediction and other hypotheses stemming from our previous brook trout research.

Brook Trout I – Stringer & Scott Lakes:

Ultrasonic transmitters were implanted into brook trout in Stringer and Scott Lakes in Algonquin Park in spring 2009. Transmitters were also implanted in common suckers in StringerLake.

The receiver arrays have been operating continuously since they were set up with data being downloaded in the spring and fall of each year. As of the last download, November 2010, over 700,000 location and depth fixes have been recorded for the fish in both lakes.

The purpose of the project is to:

• Determine the availability of brook trout to monitoring methods such as standardized netting and hydroacoustics;
• Determine the extent of spatial segregation between brook trout and suckers ~ and compare with a lake (Scott Lake) without suckers;
• Determine habitat selection by these species on a daily and seasonal basis;
• Test hypotheses regarding spatial movements of males and females within the mating system;
• Apply the known-fate model for survival estimates.

The project began in 2009. The array will be removed from Scott Lake in the spring of 2011 but will remain operating in Stringer Lake until the fall of 2011.

Lake Trout III – Maganasipi Lake, Quebec:

A cooperative effort between NDMNRF and Quebec biologists is focused on tracking the movements of two life history / food web morphs of lake trout in a lake.  Precise movements in 3D are being recorded and mapped for the purpose of understanding gear selectivity, energy budgets of predators and the role of activity in life history patterns.

Lake Trout II - Lake Opeongo:

Although an acoustic array was not employed in this project, the combination of multi-beam hydroacoustics and individual acoustic tags operating at the same frequency as the multi-beam unit provided a unique opportunity to track the locations of tagged lake trout in a large lake system - the South Arm of Lake Opeongo. Individuals appeared to show fidelity to specific areas and clearly demonstrated that cisco schools are attacked from beneath during foraging attempts.

• Dunlop, E.S., S.W. Milne, M.S. Ridgway, J. Condiotty, and I.Higginbottom. 2010. In situ swimming behavior of lake trout observed using integrated multibeam acoustics and biotelemetry. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 139: 420-432. pdf

Lake Opeongo Smallmouth Bass:

15 receivers were distributed throughout the main body of the South Arm to record the depth of individual smallmouth bass from year to year (Aug 2004 - May 2006) including overwinter periods under the ice. The results of this project provided many new observations of smallmouth bass seasonal behaviour that we did previously know. Depth variation is greatest in during the fall cooling period as bass appear to utilize the warming at depth to reach deeper in the lake for prey. Winter is a period of little movement while the period of spring equinox appears important for initiating the annual activity cycle. This includes a period in early spring where bass are very shallow prior to the reproductive season. Below is a publication from this project where there are additional details on daily and seasonal behaviour:

• Suski, C.D., and M.S. Ridgway. 2009. Seasonal patterns of depth selection in smallmouth bass. Journal of Zoology 279: 119-128. pdf

Lake Trout I - Louisa Lake:

The earliest work with VEMCO acoustic tags was on lake trout in Louisa Lake in Algonquin Park. The work was a combination of a traditional acoustic tagging study where fish location was manually searched and an acoustic array using 5 VEMCO receivers. Twenty lake trout were fitted with acoustic tags for the array (July-Aug 2003) and 17 lake trout were fitted with traditional acoustic tags. The acoustic array recorded depth of each of the 20 lake trout. Inidividuals frequently moved into habitat that was not their optimal temperature indicating that littoral prey were part of their diet with the possibility of alternative foraging tactics. Below is a publication from this project with more details:

• Morbey, Y.E., P. Addison, B.J. Shuter, and K. Vascotto. 2006. Within-population heterogeneity of habitat use by lake trout Salvelinus namaycush. Journal of Fish Biology 69: 1675-1696. pdf