Migration of Postsmolt Atlantic Salmon, Salmo salar, Off Northeastern Newfoundland, As Inferred by Tag Recoveries in a Seabird Colony

Abstract

Northern gannets, Su%a bassanus, and possibly sther seabird species nesting on Funk island off northeastern Newfsundiand preyed sn postsmolt Atlantic salmon, SaBrno salar. Salmon comprised less than 1 % sf 2928 regurgitated food samples eo[lected from gannets at the colony. Ten srnsit tags were recovered in and near the gannetry during August or September in 1984 thr~ugh1 986. The tags were from smslts released 3-4 rno earlier in the Penobscot River (Maine) (n = 7) and one each from the Saint John River (New Brunswick) and the Lower Clyde and LaHave rivers (Nova Scotia). These recoveries provide evidence that postsmolt Atlantic salmon from rivers in New England, the Bay of Fundy, and the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia migrate off eastern Newfoundland. This migratory pattern contrasts with that of psstsmslts from the Gulf of St. Lawrence, which tend to move northwards along IVewfoundlandfs west coast and through the Strait sf Belle Isle.