Abstract
In the spring of 2019, the largest acoustic telemetry project in Europe, the Moray Firth “Missing Salmon Project”, was initiated. The Moray Firth project partnership, led by the AST, comprises Glasgow University, the six District Salmon Fishery Boards / Fishery Trusts in the Moray Firth and Marine Scotland. Over 340 acoustic receivers were deployed from the headwaters of the rivers out into the open sea within the Moray Firth. Fish were captured in seven river systems (Deveron, Spey, Findhorn, Ness, Conon, Oykel, Shin) which all flow into the Moray Firth. 850 migrating smolts were trapped and selected for tagging by the District Salmon Fishery Boards and successfully tagged by three tagging teams. The core aim of the project was to: 1) Identify how successfully smolts move down the main stem and into the transitional waters of the estuary and 2) Identify the marine migration routes