Dispersal Patterns and Summer Ocean Distribution of Adult Dolly Varden in the Beaufort Sea Using Satellite Telemetry

Dolly Varden are highly valued as a subsistence fish and local residents of North Slope villages and harvest thousands of these fish each year.  For example, in Kaktovik, fishers harvested 15,388 pounds of fish for subsistence from 2000–2002, of which 12,297 pounds (80%) was Dolly Varden.  However, biologists have little direct information about their summer ocean ecology and distribution.  Therefore, we attempted to use pop-up satellite archival (PSAT) tags to study the oceanic habits, distribution and migration patterns of Dolly Varden that summer in the Beaufort Sea.  In June and July 2014, we deployed 13 Microwave Telemetry X-tags in large Dolly Varden (nine in the Ivishak River, four in the marine waters near Kaktovik) to examine temperature, depth and daily geoposition estimates.  Of these 13 tagged fish, five never left the Ivishak River and likely moved upstream to spawn, one was found in the Kongakut River, two were found in the Hulahula River, two sent brief transmissions but no fixed location was made, and three were never heard from again.  Movement inferences as well as changes in sampling design for the 2015 season are discussed.