Environmental and Parental Influences on Age at Maturity in Sockeye Salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) from the Fraser River, British Columbia

1986 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 269-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Randall M. Peterman ◽  
Michael J. Bradford ◽  
Judith L. Anderson
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Age Structure ◽  
Sockeye Salmon ◽  
Oncorhynchus Nerka ◽  
Data Series ◽  
Fraser River ◽  
Age At Maturity ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
River Population ◽  
The Mean

Commercial fisheries possess the potential for applying strong selection on size or age at maturity in the populations they exploit. It is therefore important to know the extent to which these traits are inherited. We examined regressions of the mean age at maturity of cohorts of offspring on the mean ages of the female and male spawners which produced them for four populations of sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) from the Fraser River, British Columbia. Unlike previous researchers, we found that neither genetic nor maternal effects are important, relative to environmental variables, in influencing year-to-year variation in age at maturity in these stocks. The differences between our findings and earlier ones are due to a longer data series and more complete population statistics than were available previously. We further analyzed the age structure of the Adams River population, which has a cyclic pattern of abundance. Fluctuating population density appeared to account for variation in age structure among cycle years in the Adams stock. We concluded that serious concerns about the long-term effects of size-selective fishing on mean age at maturity are probably not warranted for Fraser River sockeye.

Precocial maturation of male sockeye salmon in the Fraser River, British Columbia, and its relationship to growth and year-class strength

2000 ◽  
Vol 57 (11) ◽  
pp. 2248-2257 ◽  
Author(s):  
M C Healey ◽  
M A Henderson ◽  
Ingrid Burgetz
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Age Structure ◽  
Sockeye Salmon ◽  
Historical Data ◽  
Oncorhynchus Nerka ◽  
Fraser River ◽  
The West ◽  
Migration Distance ◽  
Male Brood ◽  
Class Strength

We analyzed historical data on the age structure and abundance of males in 22 populations of sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) in the Fraser River, British Columbia, to determine geographical and temporal patterns of precocial maturation, its relationship with growth and maturation at other ages, and the value of precocial males as indicators of year-class strength. Most Fraser sockeye males spend two winters at sea before maturing at 3-5 years of age. Precocial males return to spawn at 2, 3, or 4 years of age (ages 0.1, 1.1, and 2.1) and comprised <1 to >33% of male brood year returns among populations. Precocity was lowest among populations that spawned far upstream and highest among populations spawning to the west of the main Fraser River and was not correlated with migration distance. Precocial maturation was related to growth during the second summer in the ocean to brood line and to brood line abundance. The combination of brood line, abundance, and size of precocial males accounted for more than 75% of the variation in total returns in four populations, suggesting that these variables might be used to predict abundance 1 year in advance.

Fecundity and Egg Retention of Some Sockeye Salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) Stocks in British Columbia

1986 ◽  
Vol 43 (8) ◽  
pp. 1643-1655 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. I. Manzer ◽  
I. Miki
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Sockeye Salmon ◽  
Oncorhynchus Nerka ◽  
Absolute Fecundity ◽  
Egg Retention ◽  
Inadequate Sample Size ◽  
Egg Number ◽  
The Mean ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Individual Fecundity

The fecundity and egg retention of anadromous female sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) collected during 1971–82 from several stocks in British Columbia undergoing controlled fertilization to enhance adult sockeye production were examined. The relationship between egg number and postorbital–hypural length based on 863 females representing 14 stocks was not consistent between all age-types, stocks, and years, probably because of inadequate sample size in some instances. Combined samples, however, revealed a significant positive relationship between postorbital–hypural length and egg number for age 1.2, 1.3, and 2.2 females. Mean absolute fecundity for the respective age-types was 3218, 4125, and 3544 eggs. For samples of 10 or more females, significant stock and annual differences were detected when individual mean absolute fecundity was adjusted to a postorbital–hypural length of 447 mm, but not for females of different age. A comparison of mean fecundities for coastal stocks with historical data for interior British Columbia stocks suggests that coastal stocks are 18% more fecund than interior stocks. Possible causal mechanisms for this regional difference are hypothesized. Examination of 796 carcasses (representing five stocks) for egg retention revealed a range from totally spawned to totally unspawned females, with 56% of the carcasses containing 20 eggs or less and 68% containing 50 eggs or less. The mean egg retention based on all samples combined was estimated to be 6.5% of the mean individual fecundity. This value was reduced to 3.9% when stock means were averaged.

Limited behavioural thermoregulation by adult upriver-migrating sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) in the Lower Fraser River, British Columbia

2009 ◽  
Vol 87 (6) ◽  
pp. 480-490 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. R. Donaldson ◽  
S. J. Cooke ◽  
D. A. Patterson ◽  
S. G. Hinch ◽  
D. Robichaud ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Sockeye Salmon ◽  
Radio Telemetry ◽  
Oncorhynchus Nerka ◽  
Migration Route ◽  
Fraser River ◽  
Body Temperatures ◽  
Study Region ◽  
Ambient Temperatures ◽  
And Migration

The objective of this study was to combine radio telemetry with individual thermal loggers to assess the extent to which adult migrating sockeye salmon ( Oncorhynchus nerka (Walbaum in Artedi, 1792)) behaviourally thermoregulate during their migration through the Fraser River mainstem, British Columbia. The Fraser mainstem represents a region of the migration route that contains some of the highest mean temperatures encountered by sockeye salmon during their life history. We found that throughout the study area, individual sockeye salmon body temperatures occasionally deviated from ambient temperatures (ΔT), yet individuals maintained a ΔT of –1 °C or cooler for only 5% of their migration through the study region. There were moderate mean deviations of ΔT in two segments that are known to contain thermally stratified waters. In one of the study segments with the greatest ΔT, mean body temperatures decreased as river temperatures increased and ΔT became increasingly positive with higher river discharge rates, but these relationships were not observed in any of the other study segments. No relationship existed between ΔT and migration rate. While periodic associations with cool water were evident, mean body temperatures were not significantly different than mean river temperatures throughout the lower Fraser mainstem. This finding raises further conservation concerns for vulnerable Fraser River sockeye stocks that are predicted to encounter increasing peak summer river temperatures in the coming decades.

Estimating Stock Composition of Migrating Juvenile Fraser River (British Columbia) Sockeye Salmon, Oncorhynchus nerka, Using Parasites as Natural Tags

1988 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 586-591 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. E. Bailey ◽  
L. Margolis ◽  
C. Groot
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Maximum Likelihood ◽  
Sockeye Salmon ◽  
Oncorhynchus Nerka ◽  
Fraser River ◽  
Dominant Group ◽  
Strait Of Georgia ◽  
Natural Tags ◽  
Lake Washington ◽  
The Individual

Simulated mixtures of juvenile sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) were constructed using parasite data to represent proportionally the major component stocks of Fraser River and Lake Washington sockeye migrating within the Strait of Georgia, British Columbia, in 1982–84. Samples of migrating juveniles were also collected from Bedwell Harbour, South Pender Island, British Columbia, each year and analyzed for parasites and stock composition. The compositions of simulated and sample mixtures were estimated using a maximum likelihood stock composition model. Simulated mixture compositions were accurately estimated for most stocks for all year-classes. When significant misassignment occurred between stocks, the stocks were analyzed as a complex using the allocate-sum procedure. Sample mixture estimates correctly identified the dominant stock for each year-class, although for 1984 the dominant group was determined as a complex of three stocks because the individual stocks were not distinguishable. The results indicate that it is feasible to use parasites as natural tags to estimate stock compositions of migrating juvenile sockeye salmon in the Strait of Georgia.

Patterns of Interannual Variation in Age at Maturity of Sockeye Salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) in Alaska and British Columbia

1985 ◽  
Vol 42 (10) ◽  
pp. 1595-1607 ◽  
Author(s):  
Randall M. Peterman
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Sockeye Salmon ◽  
Oncorhynchus Nerka ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Age At Maturity ◽  
Bristol Bay ◽  
Freshwater Environment ◽  
Marine Life ◽  
Alternative Hypotheses

Interannual variations in mean age of maturity tend to be positively correlated among 10 stocks of sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) which spawn in rivers emptying into Bristol Bay, Alaska. Taking a comparative approach, I utilized data from British Columbia and Alaska sockeye stocks with different life histories to test alternative hypotheses about sources of these variations in mean age at maturity. The hypotheses included freshwater environment, marine environment, and parental influences. Freshwater hypotheses were rejected and while some parental effects do exist, they are small compared with the effect of events in early marine life. Early marine growth rate data do not exist for these stocks but evidence from five other sockeye stocks shows that fast growth during this period tends to lead to earlier age at maturity.

Patterns of covariation in length and age at maturity of British Columbia and Alaska sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) stocks

1999 ◽  
Vol 56 (6) ◽  
pp. 1046-1057 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian J Pyper ◽  
Randall M Peterman ◽  
Michael F Lapointe ◽  
Carl J Walters
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Survival Rate ◽  
Body Length ◽  
Sockeye Salmon ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Oncorhynchus Nerka ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Survival Rates ◽  
Age At Maturity ◽  
Environmental Processes

We examined patterns of covariation in age-specific adult body length and in mean age at maturity among 31 sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) stocks from western Alaska to southern British Columbia. Positive covariation in body length was prevalent across stocks of all regions (e.g., correlations (r) from 0.2 to 0.6), suggesting either that growth periods critical to final body length of sockeye salmon occur while ocean distributions of these stocks overlap or that large-scale environmental processes influence these stocks similarly while they do not overlap. We also found stronger covariation among body length of stocks within regions (r from 0.4 to 0.7), indicating that unique regional-scale processes were also important. Mean age at maturity also showed positive covariation both among and within regions, but correlations were weaker than those for length. We also examined patterns of covariation between length and mean age at maturity and between these variables and survival rate. Although length and mean age at maturity were negatively correlated, there was little evidence of covariation between these variables and survival rate, suggesting that environmental processes that influence marine survival rates of sockeye salmon are largely different from those affecting size and age at maturity.

Parvicapsula minibicornis infections in gill and kidney and the premature mortality of adult sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) from Cultus Lake, British Columbia

2010 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 673-683 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Bradford ◽  
Jan Lovy ◽  
David A. Patterson ◽  
David J. Speare ◽  
William R. Bennett ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Sockeye Salmon ◽  
Oncorhynchus Nerka ◽  
Premature Mortality ◽  
Fraser River ◽  
Myxosporean Parasite ◽  
Gill Disease ◽  
Gill Lamellae ◽  
Severity Of The Disease ◽  
Using Data

In recent years, large losses of migrating adult sockeye salmon ( Oncorhynchus nerka ) from the Fraser River, British Columbia, Canada, have resulted in reductions in catches and productivity. We investigated patterns of mortality and the occurrence of the myxosporean parasite Parvicapsula minibicornis in adult sockeye salmon from Cultus Lake, tributary to the Fraser River. Using data from a captive broodstock program, we found that early migrants to Cultus Lake had less severe P. minibicornis infections and were more likely to survive to maturity than those fish that arrived later after they had presumably held in the warmer Fraser River. We found P. minibicornis in kidneys and gills of spawners. In some fish, significant histopathology in the gills that included severe inflammation and hyperplasia of the gill lamellae was observed; the severity of the disease was correlated with the severity of P. minibicornis infections. Kidney and gill pathologies were more prevalent and more severe in fish that died before spawning compared with those that matured successfully. Gill disease associated with P. minibicornis infections had not been previously identified in Fraser River sockeye salmon, and its role in the loss of spawners needs further investigation.

The Effect of reduction of Predaceous Fish on survival of young Sockeye Salmon at Cultus Lake

1941 ◽  
Vol 5b (4) ◽  
pp. 315-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. E. Foerster ◽  
W. E. Ricker
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Survival Rate ◽  
Sockeye Salmon ◽  
Coho Salmon ◽  
Oncorhynchus Nerka ◽  
First Year ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Control Work ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Gill Netting

By persistent gill-netting in Cultus lake, British Columbia, the predaceous fish which feed on young sockeye (Oncorhynchus nerka) have been considerably, though unevenly, reduced in numbers. The populations of squawfish and char, of lengths greater than 200 millimetres, were reduced in three years to about 1/10 of their original numbers. The abundance of trout and coho salmon have been much less affected by netting, if at all, though a considerable number have been killed. From the first year of control operations the survival rate of young sockeye salmon was considerably increased. In the three years which have been tested, the mean survival rate has been increased three and a third times over average conditions prior to control. In absolute figures, this represents 3,800,000 migrants saved, which are expected to yield 380,000 adult sockeye. Even disregarding the important cumulative future increase, the immediate return from the work is a quantity of sockeye whose value is many times greater than the cost of control work.

Lipid Reserve Dynamics and Magnification of Persistent Organic Pollutants in Spawning Sockeye Salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) from the Fraser River, British Columbia

2007 ◽  
Vol 41 (9) ◽  
pp. 3083-3089 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barry C. Kelly ◽  
Samantha L. Gray ◽  
Michael G. Ikonomou ◽  
J. Steve Macdonald ◽  
Stelvio M. Bandiera ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Organic Pollutants ◽  
Persistent Organic Pollutants ◽  
Sockeye Salmon ◽  
Oncorhynchus Nerka ◽  
Fraser River ◽  
Lipid Reserve

Missing the target: uncertainties in achieving management goals in fisheries on Fraser River, British Columbia, sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka)

2006 ◽  
Vol 63 (12) ◽  
pp. 2722-2733 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carrie A Holt ◽  
Randall M Peterman
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Fisheries Management ◽  
Return Migration ◽  
Sockeye Salmon ◽  
Oncorhynchus Nerka ◽  
Simulation Models ◽  
Mortality Rates ◽  
Fraser River ◽  
Management Options ◽  
Fishing Regulations

In sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) fisheries, management targets are rarely achieved exactly, thereby creating uncertainties about outcomes from implementing fishing regulations. Although this type of uncertainty may be large, it is seldom incorporated into simulation models that evaluate management options. One objective of this study was to quantify the deviations that occur between realized and target mortality rates (i.e., the target fraction of adult recruits that die each year during return migration, mostly due to harvesting) in fisheries for sockeye salmon from the Fraser River, British Columbia. We found that for some sockeye stocks, realized mortality rates were higher than targets when recruitment was low (resulting in conservation concerns) and lower than targets when recruitment was high (resulting in foregone catch). Scientists and managers can at least partially account for effects of such deviations between realized and target mortality rates (outcome uncertainties) by choosing target harvest rules that reflect typical patterns in those deviations. We derived a method to permit modelers to incorporate those patterns into analyses of management options.

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