This study performed in the Patapédia River (Québec, Gaspésie)
was designed to examine the space utilization and mobility patterns of
individual Atlantic salmon parr over short time scales with frequent
detections of position. In August 2004, n = 7 radio-tagged Atlantic
salmon parr were located every 20 min during 10 tracking periods chosen to
take into account the dawn, day, dusk and night periods. Parr showed important
inter individual variability in space utilization and mobility patterns, occupying
large home ranges (123 to 5602 m2) and sometimes migrating 2 km
upstream in the river. No differences were observed in the mean distance
travelled among the four daily periods by individual fish, but the estimated
home ranges utilized during the four daily periods overlapped only
partially, demonstrating that parr partly occupy different areas of the
river during different parts of the daily cycle. The results suggest that an
intense survey on a small number of fish may contribute to a complementary
comprehension of space utilization and mobility patterns of Atlantic salmon
parr when viewed in association with results from studies surveying larger
number of fish at lower frequency.