Recent salmon declines: a result of lost feeding opportunities due to bad timing?
As the timing of spring productivity blooms in near-shore areas advances due to warming trends in global climate, the selection pressures on out-migrating salmon smolts are shifting. Species and stocks that leave natal streams earlier may be favoured over later-migrating fish. The low post-release survival of hatchery fish during recent years may be in part due to static release times that do not take the timing of plankton blooms into account. This study examined the effects of release time on the migratory behaviour and survival of wild and hatchery-reared coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) using acoustic and coded-wire telemetry. Plankton monitoring and near-shore seining were also conducted to determine which habitat and food sources were favoured. Acoustic tags (n = 140) and coded-wire tags (n = 266,692) were implanted into coho salmon smolts at the Seymour and Quinsam Rivers, in British Columbia, Canada. Differences between wild and hatchery fish, and early and late releases were examined during the entire lifecycle. Physiological sampling was also carried out on 30 fish from each release group. The smolt-to-adult survival of coho salmon released during periods of high marine productivity was 1.5- to 3-fold greater than those released both before and after, and the fish's degree of smoltification affected their downstream migration time and duration of stay in the estuary. Therefore, hatchery managers should consider having smolts fully developed and ready for release during the peak of the near-shore plankton blooms. Monitoring chlorophyll a levels and water temperature early in the spring could provide a forecast of the timing of these blooms, giving hatcheries time to adjust their release schedule.
Chittenden
Cedar M
CM
Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, University of Tromsø, Tromsø, Norway. Cedar.M.Chittenden@uit.no
Jensen
Jenny L A
JL
Ewart
David
D
Anderson
Shannon
S
Balfry
Shannon
S
Downey
Elan
E
Eaves
Alexandra
A
Saksida
Sonja
S
Smith
Brian
B
Vincent
Stephen
S
Welch
David
D
McKinley
R Scott
RS
D000162:Acoustics; D000821:Animal Feed; D025041:Animal Migration; D000818:Animals; D005398:Fisheries / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005766:Gastrointestinal Contents; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D010933:Plankton; D011157:Population Dynamics; D012474:Salmon; D015996:Survival Rate; D013686:Telemetry; D013997:Time Factors
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