As the winter months are the time for data analysis and review, there's not much to report, so the Blog will take its annual break. When the new season opens, it should include the acoustic tracking work. The interviews for the Ph D student who'll carry out the study were at Durham on Wednesday; the appointment will be made soon and the preparations will then get underway. There will be two main parts to this:- tracking smolts down to the sea to find out their success rate in making it and whether the reasons for failures can be identified, and tracking adults upstream to find out how many die from causes other than angling. We know that smolts get eaten by Goosanders, Cormorants, big trout and others on the way down, but is it possible to work out what the proportion is ? Are there "choke-points" on the river that are particularly dangerous for smolts? Do the smolts of Spring Salmon, which are reckoned to migrate earlier, have the same casualty rate as those of the smolts of later runs ? Is the transition to salt water in the estuary quick or slow ? Are there any problems in the estuary ? How is the speed of smolt migration related to water levels? Can a dry Spring make the journey significantly longer or more difficult ? Is the casualty rate really lower when there are spates to carry the smolts away, as is assumed?  We know pretty well what proportion of the Autumn run is killed by anglers, but are other causes of mortality - Otters, disease, poaching, unreported catches - significant? How and when do fish make the transition from salt to fresh water? What really is the relationship between tides and water levels and the entry of fish into the river? How do their movements upriver relate to water levels and to season? These are all the obvious questions, some of which are pretty basic and without knowing the answers to which proper management is difficult. Doubtless other questions will arise during the course of the study and doubtless there will be surprises as well.

These are the obvious questions, but no doubt others will crop up during the work.