OTN’s new technician Ian Beveridge and lead technician Duncan Bates make final preparations to the gear Photo by Martin Castonguay (DFO Maurice Lamontagne Institute)
On September 21, 2011, OTN lead technician Duncan Bates led a mission to the Cabot Strait aboard the fishing vessel Island Venture I, captained by Darrin Baker. That mission extended the OTN Cabot Strait Line by 94 acoustic receiver stations, to just 20 km from Newfoundland.
On October 19th, Duncan was back out on another mission in the Strait, this time accompanied by OTN’s new technician Ian Beveridge and Cabot Strait Line PI Martin Castonguay from DFO’s Maurice Lamontagne Institute. That mission resulted in the completion of the Cabot Strait Line all the way to Cape Ray, Newfoundland, a straight line distance of over 100km from its point of origin at Cape North, Cape Breton Island.
OTN Cabot Strait Line
The OTN Cabot Strait Line consists of 151 active acoustic receiver stations and spans depths exceeding 400m across the Laurentian Channel.
The completion of this line creates an acoustic curtain across a potentially important migration route between the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Northwest Atlantic Ocean. Species detected on the line so far include Atlantic salmon, Atlantic bluefin tuna, Atlantic cod, Atlantic sturgeon, and grey seals.
OTN Canada researchers Julian Dodson (Université Laval) and Martin Castonguay (DFO Maurice Lamontagne Institute), studying north American eels (Anguilla rostrata), are hopeful that this array can help them to clarify the migratory pathway and the timing of the migration of this elusive species.
Read more about OTN Canada’s eel research on the OTN Canada Website
View more photos from the Cabot Strait Line completion in the OTN Multimedia Gallery
Story by Susan Dufault, OTN Headquarters
