Distribution, Growth, and Survival of Sockeye Fry (Oncorhynchus nerka) Produced in Natural and Artificial Stream Environments
A comparative study was made at Babine Lake, British Columbia, of the distribution, growth, and survival of sockeye salmon fry resulting from the same parental stock but reared in natural and artificial streams. Fry produced from natural spawning in the Fulton River and from eyed eggs planted in an adjacent artificial spawning channel were marked distinctively, released, and later recovered in the lake nursery area and at the lake outlet at time of seaward migration. Both groups dispersed rapidly and widely into the main lake basin and apparently mixed extensively with sockeye produced from other main lake tributaries. Lake distribution of marked fish, and the underyearling population as a whole, was not uniform nor static and the fish were concentrated in different lake areas at different times of their first growing season. River and channel fry were comparable in mean length at time of release but subsequently channel fish were smaller. Their smaller size appeared to result from late lake entry and a slower rate of growth for a short period thereafter. Over most of the growing period (June 25–October 25) rates of growth in length were similar (instantaneous daily rates of 0.00687 and 0.00737). No significant difference in survival rates of the two groups could be detected for the first 5 months of lake residence. Production of age I seaward migrants was less for river fish than for channel fish but no significance was attached to the small difference observed. These findings are discussed with respect to a fish-cultural scheme which is aimed at increasing adult production by making fuller use of the lake's capacity to rear young sockeye.