Limnology and Fish Ecology of Sockeye Salmon Nursery Lakes of the World

1972 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 699-715 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. L. Hartman ◽  
R. L. Burgner
Keyword(s):  
Sockeye Salmon ◽  
Lake Trout ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Cutthroat Trout ◽  
Fish Ecology ◽  
Zooplankton Abundance ◽  
Life History Stages ◽  
Spawning Areas ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
The Pacific Ocean

Many important, recently glaciated oligotrophic lakes that lie in coastal regions around the northern rim of the Pacific Ocean produce anadromous populations of sockeye salmon, Oncorhynchus nerka. This paper describes the limnology and fish ecology of two such lakes in British Columbia, five in Alaska, and one in Kamchatka. Then we discuss the following general topics: the biogenic eutrophication of nursery lakes from the nutrients released from salmon carcasses wherein during years of highest numbers of spawners, lake phosphate balances in Lakes Babine, Iliamna, and Dalnee are significantly affected; the use of nursery lakes by young sockeye that reveals five patterns related to size and configuration of lake basins and the distribution of spawning areas; the interactions between various life history stages of sockeye salmon and such resident predators, competitors, and prey as Arctic char, lake trout, Dolly Varden, cutthroat trout, lake whitefish, pygmy whitefish, pond smelt, sticklebacks, and sculpins; the self-regulation of sockeye salmon abundance in these nursery lakes as controlled by density-dependent processes; the interrelations between young sockeye salmon biomass and growth rates, and zooplankton abundance in Babine Lake; and finally, the diel, vertical, pelagial migratory behavior of young sockeye in Babine Lake and the new hypothesis dealing with bioenergetic conservation.

Advances in Fish Tagging and Marking Technology

2012 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Sockeye Salmon ◽  
Release Site ◽  
Migratory Fish ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Haplotype Frequencies ◽  
Acoustic Tags ◽  
The Pacific Ocean ◽  
Salmon Hatchery

<i>Abstract</i>.—We investigated the marine migratory behavior and survival of Sakinaw Lake sockeye salmon <i>Oncorhynchus nerka </i>during their outbound migration as juveniles and return migration as adults two or more years later by tracking individuals that had been implanted with Vemco acoustic tags programmed to have two periods of active transmission. We tracked both hatchery-reared anadromous sockeye salmon (‘hatchery sockeye’) and wild nonanadromous ‘kokanee,’ two genetically-distinct, sympatric ecotypes inhabiting Sakinaw Lake, British Columbia. Tagged kokanee were distinguished from wild sockeye by haplotype frequencies at two mitochondrial DNA genes. Migrations were inferred from detections by the Pacific Ocean Shelf Tracking (POST) receivers, and supplemental tracking near the release site and in Sakinaw Lake. We found no significant differences between the ecotypes in the proportion of ‘migratory’ fish (those detected migrating seaward by POST telemetry in the year of release, 42% of all 254 fish released) or in the proportion of ocean-going fish (those detected at receivers near the open ocean, 20% of all fish released). Seaward migration in both ecotypes was primarily northward through Johnstone Strait in 2 of the 3 years studied (92% of migratory fish in 2004 and 84% in 2006). A significantly higher proportion of fish moved southward in 2005 (45% of migratory fish) than in 2004 or 2006, but this difference could not be attributed to ecotype, body size, or release date. One significant difference observed between the ecotypes was that 6 kokanee but no sockeye migrated back into Sakinaw Lake within 2 weeks of release in 2006. The number of tagged fish detected as returning adults with operational tags was low (3 sockeye at the release site and 2 kokanee at Sakinaw Creek), but none of these fish had been detected crossing seaward POST lines as juveniles and thus appeared to be nonmigratory. The adult return rate of these nonmigratory tagged fish (3.4% in sockeye, 4.3% in kokanee) was higher than for migratory tagged fish (0% for both ecotypes). This discrepancy suggests that factors outside the Strait of Georgia have caused the poor marine survival that is preventing recovery of the endangered Sakinaw sockeye population (mean <0.2% since 2003).

Status, Distribution, and Conservation of Native Freshwater Fishes of Western North America

2007 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Sockeye Salmon ◽  
Coho Salmon ◽  
Pink Salmon ◽  
Cutthroat Trout ◽  
Columbia River ◽  
Species List ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Prosopium Williamsoni ◽  
Catostomus Macrocheilus ◽  
Lewis And Clark

ABSTRACT The Lewis and Clark expedition crossed the Continental Divide in 1805 on the way west to the Pacific Ocean. Based on journal entries, members of the expedition probably encountered two species of resident salmonids and four of the six species of anadromous salmonids and steelhead (Family Salmonidae, genus <em>Oncorhynchus</em>). The salmonid species were called common salmon (now known as Chinook salmon <em>O. tshawytscha</em>), red charr (sockeye salmon <em>O. nerka</em>), white salmon trout (coho salmon [also known as silver salmon] <em>O. kisutch</em>), salmon trout (steelhead <em>O. mykiss</em>), and spotted trout (cutthroat trout <em>O. clarkii</em>). There was no evidence of the expedition encountering pink salmon <em>O. gorbuscha</em>, chum salmon <em>O. keta</em>, or species of true char <em>Salvelinus</em> spp. Common fishes procured from Indian tribes living along the lower Columbia River included eulachon <em>Thaleichthys pacificus</em> and white sturgeon <em>Acipenser transmontanus</em>. The identity of three additional resident freshwater species is questionable. Available descriptions suggest that what they called mullet were largescale sucker <em>Catostomus macrocheilus</em>, and that chubb were peamouth <em>Mylocheilus caurinus</em>. The third questionable fish, which they called bottlenose, was probably mountain whitefish <em>Prosopium williamsoni</em>, although there is no evidence that the species was observed in the Columbia River drainage. Missing from the species list were more than 20 other fishes known to Sahaptin-speaking people from the mid-Columbia region. More complete documentation of the icthyofauna of the Pacific Northwest region did not occur until the latter half of the 19th century. However, journals from the Lewis and Clark expedition provide the first documentation of Columbia River fishes.

Thermal limits and ocean migrations of sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka): long-term consequences of global warming

1998 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 937-948 ◽  
Author(s):  
D W Welch ◽  
Y Ishida ◽  
K Nagasawa
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Ocean ◽  
Sockeye Salmon ◽  
Oncorhynchus Nerka ◽  
Step Function ◽  
Thermal Limits ◽  
The North ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Different Temperatures ◽  
The Pacific Ocean

Ocean surveys show that extremely sharp thermal boundaries have limited the distribution of sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) in the Pacific Ocean and adjacent seas over the past 40 years. These limits are expressed as a step function, with the temperature defining the position of the thermal limit varying between months in an annual cycle. The sharpness of the edge, the different temperatures that define the position of the edge in different months of the year, and the subtle variations in temperature with area or decade for a given month probably all occur because temperature-dependent metabolic rates exceed energy intake from feeding over large regions of otherwise acceptable habitat in the North Pacific. At current rates of greenhouse gas emissions, predicted temperature increases under a doubled CO2 climate are large enough to shift the position of the thermal limits into the Bering Sea by the middle of the next century. Such an increase would potentially exclude sockeye salmon from the entire Pacific Ocean and severely restrict the overall area of the marine environment that would support growth.

On the Pacific Ocean regime shift

2001 ◽  
Vol 28 (19) ◽  
pp. 3721-3724
Author(s):  
Cathy Stephens
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Ocean ◽  
Regime Shift ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
The Pacific Ocean
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