Dredging activity and associated sound have negligible effects on adult Atlantic sturgeon migration to spawning habitat in a large coastal river

Authors

Matthew Balazik, Virginia Commonwealth UniversityFollow
Michael Barber, Virginia Commonwealth University
Safra Altman, Engineer Research and Development Center, United States Army Corps of Engineers
Kevin Reine, Engineer Research and Development Center, United States Army Corps of Engineers
Alan Katzenmeyer, Engineer Research and Development Center, United States Army Corps of Engineers
Aaron Bunch, Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries
Greg Garman, Virginia Commonwealth University

Document Type

Article

Original Publication Date

2020

Journal/Book/Conference Title

PLoS ONE

Volume

15

Issue

3:e0230029

First Page

1

Last Page

13

DOI of Original Publication

10.1371/journal.pone.0230029

Comments

Originally published at https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0230029.

Funded in part by the VCU Libraries Open Access Publishing Fund.

Date of Submission

August 2020

Abstract

Dredging is considered a major threat/impedance to anadromous fish migrating to spawning habitat. Due to the perceived threat caused by dredging, environmental windows that restrict dredge operations are enforced within many rivers along the east coast. However, it is generally unknown how anadromous fish react to encountering an active dredge during spawning migrations. Atlantic sturgeon (ATS) are an endangered, anadromous species along the Atlantic slope of North America. To determine if and how an active dredge may affect ATS spawning migration, a Vemco Positioning System array was deployed around an active hydraulic-cutterhead dredge that adult ATS must traverse to reach spawning habitat in the James River, VA. Telemetry data showed that all ATS that entered the study area survived. ATS that migrated upstream during dredge operations (N = 103) traversed the dredge area and continued upstream to spawning habitat. Many ATS made multiple trips through the study area during dredge operations. There was no noticeable difference in swim behavior regardless of whether the dredge was absent or working within the study area. We suggest that dredging in the lower James River does not create a barrier for adult ATS migrating to spawning habitat or cause adults to significantly modify swim behavior. This is the first study to utilize fine-scale telemetry data to describe how an organism moves in relation to an active dredge. This methodology could be used to describe dredge-sturgeon interactions on different life stages and in other locations and could be expanded to other aquatic organisms of concern.

Rights

This is an open access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication.

Is Part Of

Rice Rivers Center Research