Scottish Marine and Freshwater Science Volume 5 Number 6: Collation of Available Datasets on Smolt Populations in Scotland to Assess Migration Run Times

7. Appendix A: Project Correspondence

7.1 Initial Notification letter (18.12.13)

Dear Sir/Madam

Collation of Datasets on Smolt Populations in Scotland to Assess Migration Run Times

The Scottish Fisheries Co-ordination Centre ( SFCC) has today been awarded a contract from Marine Scotland Science ( MSS) to facilitate the collation of smolt data in Scotland, the majority of which is held by members of The SFCC. Knowledge of migration run timings at a national scale is relevant in the context of imminent major developments in offshore renewables, and this provides a catalyst and unique opportunity to identify the available data on smolt migrations in Scotland. It is also an opportunity for The SFCC members to facilitate a partnership approach to fisheries data in Scotland.

Context

Fisheries proprietors, Trusts, Boards and others have expressed concern at the potential impacts that may arise from Scotland's planned offshore renewable developments. The Scottish Government has pledged to meet 100% of our electricity needs by 2020 through renewable energy sources, with offshore wave, tidal and wind devices set to provide a major contribution. Relative to our understanding of salmonid ecology in freshwater, migration routes and life strategies in the coastal and marine zone are poorly understood ( e.g. Friedland, 1998). Specifically, Malcolm et al, 2013, identified that "There is limited information available on the timing of migration for both juvenile and adult fish for specific locations on the Scottish coast." The offshore renewables construction phase (due to commence in 2014) is often considered to have the greatest potential for harm. As such the value of this MSS project to is immediately apparent. Smolt run timings could be used to influence and design mitigation measures (if required); such as regulating construction and installation works during your respective local smolt emigration period.

At an international level some Scottish Fisheries Trusts have already successfully contributed smolt data for a comprehensive analysis across Europe and North America (Otero et al, 2013). By utilising the data collection expertise provided through the Trust and Board network, the SFCC encourages you to consider this MSS project as a microcosm of a collaborative fisheries data landscape in Scotland.

This project - what we are asking you to help with

The first stage of the project is to establish a basic understanding of the smolt data that has been collected to date by SFCC members in Scotland. To fulfil the first stage I have included a short questionnaire within the attached Annex A. To help with this project, please could you complete this questionnaire. Nil returns are also informative, and accordingly please notify us if you do not hold any smolt data. MSS will then assess the metadata provided to them, and subsequently select the raw smolt datasets they require for inclusion within the project. The SFCC will then communicate these requirements to respective members, before collating the available data into a standard format and supplying to MSS for further analysis. This analysis will focus on identifying run timings around the Scottish coast, while also assessing smolt sizes in relation to their potential for radio tagging using current technologies.

Thoughts for the future

The forthcoming review of fisheries management in Scotland will assess all active fisheries structures and how these may be improved to further advance evidence based fisheries management. This process will likely seek evidence of data collection and collaboration at both the local catchment and national scales. The SFCC aspires that through assistance from your organisation and other members, this project with MSS will provide a timely opportunity for a Scotland-wide assessment of smolt migrations while also providing evidence of streamlined and collaborative working relationships within the Scottish fisheries sector.

Further Information

Under Environmental Information Regulations (Scotland) Act 2004, and The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 in the event that an acceptable request is made for raw data, MSS is duty-bound to publish these data. Therefore, for the purposes of this project data should be considered in the public domain.

For full details and the metadata questionnaire please see the attached annex A. The SFCC has been awarded funding to support the management of this project and the time taken by your organisation to collate and provide the data. Sean Dugan, the SFCC Manager will be your contact, with additional support from The SFCC Management Committee. Timescales, as ever, are tight, but we would appreciate if you can notify us if you are able to contribute to this project by January 10 ^th 2014. If you have any further questions please contact Sean using the details below. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Yours sincerely

Sean Dugan

SFCC Manager

On behalf of The SFCC Management Committee

01224 294408

s.dugan@marlab.ac.uk

* References attached in Annex A

Annex A - Supporting Information 18.12.13

Background

The objective of this project is 'To identify and collate the available datasets on smolt output across Scotland, in order to assess the potential of identifying migration run timings from these datasets'. If you do not currently collect smolt data then this letter does still maintain relevance in that the outcomes of the following proposed national smolt data assessment may help identify gaps in the spatial coverage of data and thereby facilitate the deployment of smolt data collection facilities within your respective catchment.

Strategy and timeline

Week 3	Dec	Notification letter sent: communication of the context and a clear statement of the entire process, proposed use of data, metadata requests and time reimbursement procedure
Christmas & New Year
2	Jan	Assessment of initial responses from SFCC members
3		Collation of metadata summaries (Stage 1)
4		Progress discussion at the annual biologists meeting
		Milestone 1: Meeting with MSS and appraisal of metadata summary report Selection of datasets to be requested in full
1	Feb	Formal requests for raw data from SFCC members (Stage 2) Division of funds evenly between all data providers
2		Collation of agreed datasets into a standard format
3
4		Preparation of final report and acknowledgment of all data providers
1	Mar
2		Milestone 2: Project completion

Stage 1. Initial Metadata Provision

Please complete the following for each smolt monitoring site(s).

Location of smolt monitoring site: River
River order
6 figure grid reference	E.g. 265 565
Annual resolution	E.g. 2008-2010, 2012
Survey period	E.g. March 1 st- June 1 st
Frequency	E.g. daily
Species recorded
Fish weights recorded	(Yes/No)
Trap strategy	Total, partial
Trap type	Fixed, mobile, rotary screw
Method for assessing capture efficiency if applicable
Any additional environmental data collected which you suggest may have relevance to the project aims

*Please repeat this table for any additional locations.

Stage 2. Raw Data Provision

After selection of the required raw smolt datasets by MSS at the end of January 2014, The SFCC plans to request these datasets to the individual fish resolution, including species, length, and weight where available. If any further environmental data is collected that you suggest may be relevant to the aims of the project, we would appreciate the supply of these data if possible. The SFCC will then collate spread sheets from all data providers into a standard calibrated format and deliver this to MSS as a Microsoft Excel document. Final report submission will include a GIS map of locations, along with the metadata summary, and acknowledgements of your organisation as the data owner.

Funding

Within the project the SFCC has been awarded £4,500 towards management including collation of the data into a standard format and preparation of the aforementioned final report. This donation will be reinvested into our membership to develop the training provision programme. A sum of £5,450 has also been awarded through the project to fund the time taken by data holders for data retrieval and collation costs. After selection of the datasets which will be requested for further analysis, funding will be divided evenly among all participating organisations. Thereby if, for example, 10 Trusts or Boards provide smolt data, remuneration to each will be £540.00. This payment must be made within the current financial year and The SFCC will endeavour to process payment within 5 working days of data provision.

Considerations

As holders of the data after the project, under EIR and FOISA regulations in the event that an acceptable request is made for raw data, MSS are duty-bound to share these data. Prior to this eventuality, MSS will first publish its existing report in relation to smolt migration run timings, and will only consider releasing raw data if circumstances require. It should be noted that as a result of these stipulations, the purposes of this project all data submitted should be considered to be in the public domain.

Added value to the SFCC

MSS funding for this project will be invested directly into our member network. A core aim of the SFCC is to facilitate cross-Scotland projects, with the present specification providing a model opportunity to address these aims. The SFCC was established to facilitate evidence based fisheries management in Scotland, and provides a mechanism for local fisheries managers and biologists to standardise aspects of data collection and storage. Pending results of this project, we envisage the creation of a standard smolt data collection protocol.

Acknowledgements

Your organisation will be fully acknowledged as owners of your respective data at the outset, in the report provided by The SFCC, and in the analysis carried out by MSS. This project will accentuate the value of data collected by The River Don Trust, to inform both local and national scale management approaches.

References

Friedland, K. 1998. Ocean climate influences on critical Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) life history events. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 55(Suppl. 1): 119-130.

Malcolm, I.A., Armstrong, J. D., Godfrey, J.D., Maclean, J.C. and Middlemas, S.J. 2013. Marine Scotland Science Report 05/13 The Scope of Research Requirements for Atlantic Salmon, Sea Trout and European Eel in the Context of Offshore Renewables. Scottish Government.

Otero, J et al, 2013. Basin-scale phenology and effects of climate variability on global timing of initial seaward migration of Atlantic salmon ( Salmo salar). Global Change Biology (2014) 20, 61-75.

7.2 Confirmation letter & second metadata questionnaire (12.02.14)

Dear Sir/Madam,

SFCC Smolt Data Collation Project - Confirmation Letter to Trusts

Thank you for providing the metadata information summarising your smolt monitoring sampling. Having presented your metadata to Marine Scotland Science ( MSS), I am pleased to inform you that based on the summary you provided, these data have significant value to the aims of this project and I therefore wish to invite you to contribute the raw data.

With reference to the notification letter sent on 18.12.13, we require Smolt data down to the individual fish level, or if not recorded, total fish count data.

Metadata Summary

As a result of the good response from Trusts, Boards and academic interests, The SFCC believe there to be a minimum of 30 specific smolt monitoring locations in Scottish catchments (see attached map in appendix A). In addition, smolt monitoring locations are operated by MSS on the River Dee and Esk catchments. While the strategy, coverage and temporal resolution of deployment varies widely between sites, this data will provide an important resource for improving our understanding of salmon and sea trout smolt migration in Scotland and will have direct application in the context of offshore renewables developments.

Payment

A total of £5,450 has been allocated to fund data retrieval and collation by the various participating organisations. Data collected by 13 of these organisations across Scotland is deemed highly desirable and has been selected by MSS. Thus, a minimum of £419.23 will be offered to each member providing data. If the eventual number of participating organisations drops below 13, all remaining monies will be allocated evenly between contributing organisations.

Timescales

This project is required to be delivered by The SFCC within the current financial year. MSS require 2 weeks to process payments, therefore our deadline for submitting the report and data is Friday 14 ^th March. In order to meet this deadline the SFCC require all raw datasets to be supplied by Wednesday 26 ^th February. Payment to you will then be allocated and processed within 10 working days of this date.

Data Format

Data collected to the individual fish resolution is highly desirable for this project. Data should be submitted in a standard format within Microsoft Excel in order to ensure that collation of all datasets is possible at a national level. Please see the attached spread sheet with separate requirements for data that has been collected at the individual fish level ( 'smolt individual fish data' sheet) and for sites where individual data is not available, please use the total fish count level ( 'smolt count level data' sheet). Please only submit one of these formats for each monitoring site. For data supplied at the individual fish resolution, sheet 3 (' fishing dates' sheet) must also be completed.

All other relevant variables that cannot be assigned to the columns should be inserted into free columns to the right. If you anticipate problems in converting your data into the standard template by the specified date then please contact me to discuss further. The SFCC and MSS appreciate that certain Trusts maintain large datasets covering multiple decades and we are therefore happy to discuss further options.

Supporting Information Required

MSS have requested some further information on your trap installations. Please fill in the questionnaire in Appendix B (page 4), and send one upstream facing and one downstream facing photograph of your trap(s) if at all possible. Also please provide any additional information on the trapping method used (such as a diagram).

We hope that you are able to contribute further and thank you for your time and consideration.

Yours sincerely

Sean Dugan

SFCC Manager

Appendix A. Smolt monitoring locations (current and past) as provided to The SFCC for the purposes of assessing migration run timings. Two further locations managed by Galloway Fisheries Trust and one installation on Orkney will subsequently be added to this map.

Figure 10: Smolt monitoring locations (current and past) as provided to The SFCC for the purposes of assessing migration run timings.

Appendix B. Please provide the following information in support of your dataset for each monitoring site(s).

Site/River:

1. What is the purpose/research question(s) you wish to answer with this trap deployment?

2. How do these objectives relate to your fishery management plan?

3. Does your deployment specifically target smolts?

4. Please note years when part of the smolt run may have been missed.

5. If you are operating this trap in 2014, for how many subsequent years do you plan to operate?

6. Are there any further locations at which you aspire to monitor smolt runs in future years?

7.3 Thank you letter & payment (03.03.14)

Dear Sir/Madam

SFCC Smolt Data Collation Project - Thank you

On behalf of The Scottish Fisheries Co-ordination Centre I would like to thank you for your involvement in the smolt data collation project, firstly for the provision of the metadata summary, and secondly the supply of detailed raw data. Given that this data was supplied to a standard format, and delivered within such a short timescale, we appreciate the considerable time and effort undertaken by all involved.

Please find enclosed a cheque for £419.23 for the work that you have carried out. This payment has been equally applied to each of the eventual 14 organisations across Scotland who provided smolt data.

Datasets from all participants are currently being collated and will be shortly supplied to Marine Scotland Science ( MSS) in a standard format, along with a metadata report, maps and a brief summary of your questionnaire responses. MSS will then analyse this data with the aim of improving our understanding of smolt migration run timings, and ascertaining the potential of these fish to carry acoustic tags based on fish length.

This research is undertaken in the context of the forth coming National Research and Monitoring Strategy for Diadromous Fish ( NRMSD) to investigate the potential for interactions between diadromous fish and wind, wave and tidal renewable energy developments. Further information on this stakeholder led strategy will be imminently available on the Marine Scotland website. At future stakeholder group meetings metadata provided for the purposes of this project will be presented and considered for the above analysis.

MSS gratefully acknowledge all organisations involved in providing data for the purposes of this project.

Yours sincerely

Sean Dugan

SFCC Manager