New technology helps scientists shed light on fish movement in estuaries

Abstract

Aquatic research Often dubbed the ‘nurseries’ of the aquatic environment, estuaries hold a special place in the ecosystem. While they are among the most productive habitats found in nature, they are also among the most threatened, and it is often the ignorance of the complex dynamics of these systems that lead to their mismanagement. One way of improving our knowledge about estuaries is to study the movement of the fish within them, and this is exactly what SAIAB postdoctoral researcher Dr Alistair Becker is doing along with his colleagues at the Bushmans River Estuary. He notes the two main questions he hopes to gain insight on through this project: “Firstly, I want to know how artificial light (that which is emitted from brightly lit marinas, bridges, wharfts etc) impact on fish at night. Secondly, I am interested in how tides can influence the movements of large fish within estuaries. There is some evidence that fish will often migrate upstream with the incoming tide, then move back downstream on the outgoing tide, yet it is very difficult to actually quantify this behaviour.

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