The Influence of Climate on the Stock and Recruitment of Pink and Sockeye Salmon from the Fraser River, British Columbia, Canada

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.

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Early Ocean Life History of Harrison River Sockeye Salmon and their Contribution to the Biodiversity of Sockeye Salmon in the Fraser River, British Columbia, Canada

Transactions of the American Fisheries Society ◽

10.1080/00028487.2015.1123182 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 145 (2) ◽

pp. 348-362 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Richard J. Beamish ◽

Chrys M. Neville ◽

Ruston M. Sweeting ◽

Terry D. Beacham ◽

Joy Wade ◽

...

Keyword(s):

British Columbia ◽

Life History ◽

Sockeye Salmon ◽

Fraser River ◽

History Of

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Cooperative Fisheries Management Involving First Nations in British Columbia: An Adaptive Approach to Strategy Design

Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences ◽

10.1139/f94-213 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 51 (9) ◽

pp. 2115-2125 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Timothy L. McDaniels ◽

Michael Healey ◽

Richard Kyle Paisley

Keyword(s):

British Columbia ◽

First Nations ◽

Sockeye Salmon ◽

Fishery Management ◽

Institutional Design ◽

Fraser River ◽

Cooperative Management ◽

Actual Experience ◽

Strategy Design ◽

Salmon Fishery

In 1991, a substantial program of cooperative salmon fishery management involving First Nations was initiated in British Columbia. This paper considers how ongoing cooperative management initiatives in this fishery could be designed and implemented. The process discussed in the paper could be viewed as an adaptive management experiment in institutional design for cooperative management. First, sets of fundamental objectives for cooperative management and strategies for achieving these objectives are developed. The methods for structuring objectives and developing strategies are drawn from decision analysis practice. Then the actual experience in implementing a version of one of the strategies during the 1992 Fraser River sockeye salmon First Nations fishery is discussed. The highly publicized and controversial events of the 1992 season are instructive about how cooperative management should be implemented in other contexts.

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

Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences ◽

10.1139/f88-071 ◽

1988 ◽

Vol 45 (4) ◽

pp. 586-591 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

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.

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Modeling the Influence of Environmental Factors on Spawning Migration Mortality for Sockeye Salmon Fisheries Management in the Fraser River, British Columbia

Transactions of the American Fisheries Society ◽

10.1577/t08-223.1 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 139 (3) ◽

pp. 768-782 ◽

Cited By ~ 39

Author(s):

J. Stevenson Macdonald ◽

David A. Patterson ◽

Merran J. Hague ◽

Ian C. Guthrie

Keyword(s):

British Columbia ◽

Environmental Factors ◽

Fisheries Management ◽

Sockeye Salmon ◽

Spawning Migration ◽

Fraser River ◽

Salmon Fisheries

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Estimated swimming speeds of migrating adult sockeye salmon

Canadian Journal of Zoology ◽

10.1139/z88-322 ◽

1988 ◽

Vol 66 (10) ◽

pp. 2160-2163 ◽

Cited By ~ 27

Author(s):

Thomas P. Quinn

Keyword(s):

British Columbia ◽

Body Length ◽

Swimming Speed ◽

Significant Variation ◽

Sockeye Salmon ◽

Current Speed ◽

Fraser River ◽

Tracking Data ◽

Laboratory Studies ◽

Ultrasonic Tracking

Laboratory studies have indicated that the most efficient swimming speeds for adult sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) are about 1.8 km/h, corresponding to 0.82 body length/s. Swimming is relatively efficient within the range of 1.0–2.6 km/h. To estimate the actual swimming speeds of migrants, ultrasonic tracking data for the ground speeds of 25 sockeye salmon returning to the Fraser River, British Columbia, were combined with simultaneous current speed data from drogues. There was significant variation in speed among fish but all estimates were within the range predicted from experimental results. The average estimated swimming speed, 66.75 cm/s (2.40 km/h) corresponded to 1.0 body length/s.

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