Session A8: South African FISHTRAC Programme: Radio Telemetry Techniques for Real Time Manual and Remote, Fish Behavior and Environmental Variable Monitoring in Southern African Inland Aquatic Ecosystems
Location
Groningen, The Netherlands
Event Website
http://fishpassage.umass.edu/
Start Date
24-6-2015 3:15 PM
End Date
24-6-2015 3:40 PM
Description
Abstract:
Radio telemetry techniques have been used to characterise fish behavioural ecology aspects in aquatic ecosystems to contribute to the evaluation of the ecological consequences of changes in environmental variable states. The South African inland fish tracking programme (FISHTRAC) has been established to promote the development of and use of fish movement variables within water resource management in southern Africa. FISHTRAC includes an established four phase framework including: Inception phase, Planning phase, Analyses phase and Outcomes phase which if implemented correctly, as demonstrated in the FISHTRAC manual, should allow users to implement a fish behavioural study using radio telemetry techniques with minimal error. FISHTRAC promotes the use of radio telemetry tracking systems developed and tested by Wireless Wildlife (WW) in South Africa to track fish tagged with small transceivers (tags) in riverine and lake ecosystems manually and remotely in real time. The WW telemetry system uses a digital format and a single frequency. It incorporates a data management system which allows for real time remote monitoring, facilitates communications between transceivers which allows operators to switch from remote to manual modes for example and provides data management and storage capabilities. A feature of FISHTRAC includes the ability to incorporate peripheral sensory components into tags. These include depth, temperature and movement sensors (accelerometer) and storage capabilities which can be monitored manually and or remotely in real time. The approach also includes triangulation techniques to locate tagged fish remotely. The FISHTRAC system is reliable, easy to implement and capable of addressing a range of ecosystem management and conservation questions. FISHTRAC can contribute to the; awareness of the value of characterising the biology and ecology of fishes and the ecosystems they live in, conservation and management of ecosystems, and the development of telemetry monitoring techniques in South Africa.
Session A8: South African FISHTRAC Programme: Radio Telemetry Techniques for Real Time Manual and Remote, Fish Behavior and Environmental Variable Monitoring in Southern African Inland Aquatic Ecosystems
Groningen, The Netherlands
Abstract:
Radio telemetry techniques have been used to characterise fish behavioural ecology aspects in aquatic ecosystems to contribute to the evaluation of the ecological consequences of changes in environmental variable states. The South African inland fish tracking programme (FISHTRAC) has been established to promote the development of and use of fish movement variables within water resource management in southern Africa. FISHTRAC includes an established four phase framework including: Inception phase, Planning phase, Analyses phase and Outcomes phase which if implemented correctly, as demonstrated in the FISHTRAC manual, should allow users to implement a fish behavioural study using radio telemetry techniques with minimal error. FISHTRAC promotes the use of radio telemetry tracking systems developed and tested by Wireless Wildlife (WW) in South Africa to track fish tagged with small transceivers (tags) in riverine and lake ecosystems manually and remotely in real time. The WW telemetry system uses a digital format and a single frequency. It incorporates a data management system which allows for real time remote monitoring, facilitates communications between transceivers which allows operators to switch from remote to manual modes for example and provides data management and storage capabilities. A feature of FISHTRAC includes the ability to incorporate peripheral sensory components into tags. These include depth, temperature and movement sensors (accelerometer) and storage capabilities which can be monitored manually and or remotely in real time. The approach also includes triangulation techniques to locate tagged fish remotely. The FISHTRAC system is reliable, easy to implement and capable of addressing a range of ecosystem management and conservation questions. FISHTRAC can contribute to the; awareness of the value of characterising the biology and ecology of fishes and the ecosystems they live in, conservation and management of ecosystems, and the development of telemetry monitoring techniques in South Africa.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/fishpassage_conference/2015/June24/59
Comments
Presenting Author Bio: Gordon is an established aquatic ecologist with specialisation in ecological risk assessments, freshwater and estuarine ichthyology, environmental water requirements and water resource management. His extensive scientific profile includes the development of and application of regional scale ecological risk assessments techniques throughout Africa. This includes the development of the PROBFLO ecological water requirement approach and application of the approach for the second phase of the Lesotho Highlands Water Transfer Study. Gordon is also a co-developer of a programme established to promote the use of fish movement in water resource management in southern Africa. Gordon has extensive experience as a water resource manager and contributed to the establishment of various protection measures in numerous catchments in southern and central Africa. Gordon is also an ichthyologist and for more than a decade has been researching aspects of fish biology and ecology and the use of fish as ecological indicators throughout Africa to manage fisheries and the ecosystem in which they occur. Gordon manages the Aquatic Ecosystem Research programme at the School of Life Sciences of the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He collaborates with numerous international scientists on various international projects and programmes including an international Regional Scale Risk Assessment collaboration and a fish behavioural ecology collaboration.