Improving and restoring fish migration routes is one the most important targets created by the European Commission to counter habitat fragmentation and to improve fish populations. Waterboards and other institutions have been implementing several measures to improve connections between crucial habitats in order to restore fish populations.

The question now remains: “Do the measures have the desired effect?”

VisAdvies offers monitoring systems that provide the necessary insights you need to answer the question. VisAdvies is specialized in the use of Passive Integrated Transponder telemetry (PIT-tag), one of the most successful methods for tracking fish. Our team of experts specializes in the design, construction and installation of PIT-tag monitoring systems. By designing and constructing our own custom PIT-antennas, data-collection stations and online databases, we can provide a unique and high quality monitoring solution for every project.

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In the Netherlands, a large part of fish migration routes are blocked by obstacles such as dams, dikes, weirs and pumping stations. These obstacles disrupt the migration routes and prevent fish from reaching their foraging and spawning grounds, thus reducing fish populations. In order to reduce habitat fragmentation the obstacles are made passable by building fish passages. However, the effectiveness of fish passages is often uncertain due to various aspects such as flow velocity, lure flow and design of the fish passages.

VisAdvies uses Passive Integrated Transponder telemetry (PIT-tag) to analyze the effectiveness of fish passages. Our team of experts is specialized in designing, building and installing PIT-tag monitoring systems at fish passages. Additionally, our experts can integrate PIT-tag monitoring systems during the construction of fish passages. By designing and building custom made PIT antennas, data collection stations and online databases, we can provide unique and high quality monitoring systems for each fish passage.

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In the Netherlands, efforts are being made to improving populations of migrating fish. Habitat restoration and the construction of fish passages are examples of measures taken by waterboards and other institutions to improve fish populations. However, the effectiveness of the measures taken on the target species is often unknown. Marking and recapturing target species, such as eel and Ide, at different locations within a catchment can provide more insight into the effectiveness of the measures. Visadvies specializes in catching, tagging and recapturing target species to estimate the size of fish populations. VisAdvies uses Passive Integrated Transponder telemetry (PIT-tag) to identify and track individuals within a population.

During several sampling events within a catchment, a PIT-tag is inserted in individuals eligible for tag and recapture study. Over time, several sampling events are conducted to capture the target species within the same watershed. By counting the number of individuals recaptured with a PIT tag and the number of individuals without a tag during different sampling events, VisAdvies can extrapolate the population size within the catchment.

In addition, our team of experts specializes in designing, building and installing PIT-tag monitoring systems to track PIT-tagged individuals. By designing and building custom PIT antennas, data collection stations, and online databases, we can provide unique and high-quality monitoring systems for each target species.

Want to know more about this type of research? Check out one of our projects:

Improve decision-making based on Passive Integrated Telemetry (PIT) data with the support of our data analyses. Our data analyses provides you with the knowledge you need for your organisation. With our help, you can make the right decisions to improve connectivity in your catchment or basin and thus improve fish migration for (vulnerable) fish species.

Want to know more about this type of research? Check out one of our projects: