Behavior of adult chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) in British Columbia coastal waters determined from ultrasonic telemetry

1999 ◽  
Vol 77 (7) ◽  
pp. 1161-1169 ◽  
Author(s):  
John R Candy ◽  
Thomas P Quinn
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Chinook Salmon ◽  
Coastal Waters ◽  
Sockeye Salmon ◽  
Oncorhynchus Tshawytscha ◽  
Recovery Period ◽  
Fork Length ◽  
Deep Diving ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Ultrasonic Tracking

To characterize adult chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) migratory behavior, we used ultrasonic tracking to describe their vertical and horizontal movements in upper Johnstone Strait, British Columbia during 1990-1992. Movement patterns varied: several fish showed a postrelease "escape" response and a protracted "recovery" period, with evidence of diel patterns of vertical and horizontal movements becoming apparent after 8 h. After release, 12 of the 32 chinook salmon that were tracked tended to dive deep. Chinook salmon that dived deep (>200 m) were significantly larger than fish that remained nearer the surface (mean fork length, 87.2 vs. 77.3 cm, respectively), and deep diving was not correlated with aspects of handling that might have stressed the fish. The mean depth of travel calculated over all tracks was 70 m and the maximum depths were between 300 and 400 m. Average depths of travel were shallower during the day (25-64 m) than at night (49-78 m). Overall, mean ascent and descent rates were similar (11-12 m/5 min). Gross travel rates (ground speed), defined as the distance moved during 5-min intervals, averaged 1.9 km/h, but tidal currents could have influenced these estimates. Net travel rates, defined as the distance between the point of release and track termination, were slower than gross rates, averaging 0.60 km/h. Average grounds speeds were more rapid during the day (1.9-3.2 km/h) than at night (1.7-2.5 km/h). Compared with sockeye salmon tracked in the same area during 1985-1986, chinook salmon moved more slowly, in both gross and net travel rates, and swam deeper.

Seasonal Changes in Feeding of Coho and Chinook (Spring) Salmon in Southern British Columbia Waters

1962 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 851-866 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Prakash
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Chinook Salmon ◽  
Coastal Waters ◽  
Oncorhynchus Tshawytscha ◽  
Coho Salmon ◽  
Early Summer ◽  
Food Type ◽  
Feeding Intensity ◽  
Varied Diet ◽  
Food And Feeding

Food study based on the stomach analyses of 551 chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and 659 coho salmon (O. kisutch) collected from the various localities along the southern British Columbia coast during the summer of 1957 revealed that herring followed by crustaceans formed the most important items of the diet of the two species. Coho salmon exhibited a more pelagic and varied diet than chinook salmon caught in the same area. Definite seasonal fluctuations in the composition of food and feeding intensity were noticed. Considerable amounts of Crustacea were taken in early summer months and after that fish assumed importance.Qualitative and quantitative differences in the feeding of these two species on the east and west coasts of Vancouver Island appear to warrant the establishment of two food type areas, Although herring constitute the major food item of both spring and coho salmon, evidences are presented in support of the hypothesis that a change in herring stock is not likely to affect salmon abundance in British Columbia coastal waters.

Analysis of straying variation in Alaskan hatchery chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) following transplantation

1999 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 578-589 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey J Hard ◽  
William R Heard
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Chinook Salmon ◽  
Oncorhynchus Tshawytscha ◽  
Release Site ◽  
Substantial Variation

In 1976 chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) gametes from the Chickamin and Unuk rivers in southeastern Alaska were transplanted 250 km to establish hatchery runs at Little Port Walter (LPW), Baranof Island. From 1977 to 1989, 1 862 058 marked smolts from 12 broods were released from LPW. Homing and straying were estimated from adult recoveries at 25 locations in Alaska and British Columbia between 1981 and 1989. Of 22 198 LPW fish recovered over this period, 21 934 (98.8%) were collected at LPW. Of 264 fish recovered elsewhere, 38.3% were within 7 km of LPW; 64.4% were within 25 km of LPW. No LPW fish were recovered from the ancestral rivers, but nine fish were recovered from rivers supporting wild chinook salmon. Straying declined with distance from the release site but varied between hatcheries and streams. Straying declined with increasing age and run size. Straying was similar between the populations but varied among broods, and analysis of straying in experimental groups provided evidence for a heritable component. Males strayed more often than females. Population, gender, run size, and recovery age interacted to produce substantial variation in straying, indicating that run composition can produce complex straying responses.

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.

An Evaluation of Rearing Densities to Improve Growth and Survival of Hatchery Spring Chinook Salmon

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas E. Olson ◽  
Michael Paiya
Keyword(s):  
Mortality Rate ◽  
Chinook Salmon ◽  
Oncorhynchus Tshawytscha ◽  
Confounding Factor ◽  
Fork Length ◽  
High Density ◽  
Growth And Survival ◽  
Migration Timing ◽  
Rearing Density ◽  
Salmon Stock

Abstract We evaluated growth and survival of spring Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha reared at varying densities at Warm Springs National Fish Hatchery, Oregon. For three consecutive brood years, density treatments consisted of low, medium, and high groups in 57.8-m3 raceways with approximately 16,000, 24,000, and 32,000 fish/raceway, respectively. Fish were volitionally released in both the autumn and spring to mimic the downstream migration timing of the endemic wild spring Chinook salmon stock. Just prior to the autumn release, the rearing density estimate was 4.24 kg/m3 for the low-density group, 6.27 kg/m3 for the medium-density group, and 8.42 kg/m3 for the high-density group. While weight gain did not differ among density treatments (P  =  0.72), significant differences were found in median fork length (P < 0.001) for fish reared at different densities. Fish reared at high density exhibited the highest on-hatchery mortality rate during two brood years; however, differences in mortality rate among densities were not significant (P  =  0.20). In one brood year, adult recovery rates appeared to support the hypothesis that lower initial densities improved postrelease survival (P < 0.01). All rearing densities utilized in this evaluation were relatively low and may partially explain why more differences were not readily apparent among density groups. In addition, the volitional release was a confounding factor in our study because we were unable to quantify the number of fish released in the autumn.

scholarly journals The Relationship Between Digital Egg Coloration and Egg Survival in Landlocked Fall Chinook

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 31
Author(s):  
Holiday Robley ◽  
Michael E. Barnes
Keyword(s):  
South Dakota ◽  
Chinook Salmon ◽  
Color Index ◽  
Oncorhynchus Tshawytscha ◽  
Egg Survival ◽  
A Value ◽  
The Mean ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Egg Coloration

Digital color values were collected from the eggs of 128 spawns from individual landlocked fall Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha females from Lake Oahe, South Dakota, USA, in 2008, 2009, 2015 and 2016. For all spawns, the mean (SE) a* value, a measure of red-green chromaticness, was 10.99 (0.27), and ranged from 3.98 to 18.71. Mean (SE) b* (yellow-green) was 20.27 (0.32), and ranged from 9.28 to 28.50. Mean (SE) L* (white-black) was 20.73 (0.48), and ranged from 3.98 to 18.71. Egg total color index also showed considerable variation, with a mean (SE) of 23.05 (0.37) and range from 11.70 to 31.64. Egg survival to the eyed-stage was weakly, but significantly, correlated to b* (r = 0.206), L* (r = 0.185), Chroma (r = 0.211), and Entire Color Index (r = 0.211). Spawns with no egg survival had eggs with significantly lower a* values compared to spawns where at least some of the eggs survived to the eyed stage. L*, a*, b*, Chroma, and Entire Color Index varied significantly among the years, but Hue and egg survival to the eyed stage did not. The results of this study indicate a possible link between egg color and landlocked fall Chinook salmon egg survival, possibly due to differences in the diets of feral broodstock females or their ability to deposit bodily carotenoids in the developing eggs.

Proliferative kidney disease and Sphaerospora oncorhynchi in wild-caught salmonids from the Puntledge River system, Vancouver Island, British Columbia

1995 ◽  
Vol 52 (S1) ◽  
pp. 13-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.L. Kent ◽  
M. Higgins ◽  
D.J. Whitaker ◽  
H. Yokoyama
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Kidney Disease ◽  
Chinook Salmon ◽  
Sockeye Salmon ◽  
Natural Infection ◽  
Vancouver Island ◽  
Renal Tubules ◽  
Kokanee Salmon ◽  
Proliferative Kidney Disease ◽  
Sexually Mature

Proliferative kidney disease (PKD), caused by the PKX myxosporean, was observed in kokanee salmon (non-anadromous sockeye salmon) (Oncorhynchus nerka) and chinook salmon (O. tshawytscha) collected from the Puntledge River, Vancouver Island, British Columbia in July 1993. This is the first report of a natural infection of PKX in either captive or wild sockeye salmon. All 14 underyearling kokanee salmon and the one underyearling chinook salmon exhibited numerous PKX organisms and associated chronic inflammation in the renal interstitium. Thirty-eight percent of sexually mature kokanee salmon collected in the autumn of 1993 from Comox Lake (which drains into the Puntledge River) were infected with Sphaerospora oncorhynchi, Kent, Whitaker and Margolis, 1993 in the renal tubules, while immature cutthroat trout (O. clarki) and coho salmon (O. kisutch) from the same collection did not exhibit myxosporean spores in the kidney. The kidneys of threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) and prickly sculpin (Cottus asper) collected from the Puntledge River during the summer were all infected with a Myxobilatus sp., but no organisms suggestive of PKX or Sphaerospora were observed. This study further supports the hypothesis that PKX is a developmental stage of S. oncorhynchi, which may sporulate only in sexually mature salmonids.

Changes in the Average Size and Average Age of Pacific Salmon

1981 ◽  
Vol 38 (12) ◽  
pp. 1636-1656 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. E. Ricker
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rate ◽  
Chinook Salmon ◽  
Sockeye Salmon ◽  
Oncorhynchus Tshawytscha ◽  
Coho Salmon ◽  
Pacific Salmon ◽  
Gill Nets ◽  
Growing Seasons ◽  
Mean Size ◽  
Average Size

Of the five species of Pacific salmon in British Columbia, chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and coho salmon (O. kisutch) are harvested during their growing seasons, while pink salmon (O. gorbuscha), chum salmon (O. keta), and sockeye salmon (O. nerka) are taken only after practically all of their growth is completed. The size of the fish caught, of all species, has decreased, but to different degrees and over different time periods, and for the most part this results from a size decrease in the population. These decreases do not exhibit significant correlations with available ocean temperature or salinity series, except that for sockeye lower temperature is associated with larger size. Chinook salmon have decreased greatly in both size and age since the 1920s, most importantly because nonmaturing individuals are taken by the troll fishery; hence individuals that mature at older ages are harvested more intensively, which decreases the percentage of older ones available both directly and cumulatively because the spawners include an excess of younger fish. Other species have decreased in size principally since 1950, when the change to payment by the pound rather than by the piece made it profitable for the gill-netters to harvest more of the larger fish. Cohos and pinks exhibit the greatest decreases, these being almost entirely a cumulative genetic effect caused by commercial trolls and gill nets removing fish of larger than average size. However, cohos reared in the Strait of Georgia have not decreased in size, possibly because sport trolling has different selection characteristics or because of the increase in the hatchery-reared component of the catch. The mean size of chum and sockeye salmon caught has changed much less than that of the other species. Chums have the additional peculiarity that gill nets tend to take smaller individuals than seines do and that their mean age has increased, at least between 1957 and 1972. That overall mean size has nevertheless decreased somewhat may be related to the fact that younger-maturing individuals grow much faster than older-maturing ones; hence excess removal of the smaller younger fish tends to depress growth rate. Among sockeye the decrease in size has apparently been retarded by an increase in growth rate related to the gradual cooling of the ocean since 1940. However, selection has had two important effects: an increase in the percentage of age-3 "jacks" in some stocks, these being little harvested, and an increase in the difference in size between sockeye having three and four ocean growing seasons, respectively.Key words: Pacific salmon, age changes, size changes, fishery, environment, selection, heritability

Individual variation in dispersal behaviour of newly emerged chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) from the Upper Fraser River, British Columbia

1997 ◽  
Vol 54 (7) ◽  
pp. 1585-1592 ◽  
Author(s):  
M J Bradford ◽  
G C Taylor
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Chinook Salmon ◽  
Oncorhynchus Tshawytscha ◽  
Population Variation ◽  
Fraser River ◽  
Movement Behaviour ◽  
Spawning Areas ◽  
Dispersal Distances ◽  
Stream Type ◽  
Downstream Movement

Immediately after emergence from spawning gravels, fry of stream-type chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) populations from tributaries of the upper Fraser River, British Columbia, distribute themselves downstream from the spawning areas, throughout the natal stream, and into the Fraser River. We tested the hypothesis that this range in dispersal distances is caused by innate differences in nocturnal migratory tendency among individuals. Using an experimental stream channel, we found repeatable differences in downstream movement behaviour among newly emerged chinook fry. Fish that moved downstream were larger than those that held position in the channel. However, the incidence of downstream movement behaviours decreased over the first 2 weeks after emergence. We propose that the variation among individuals in downstream movement behaviour we observed leads to the dispersal of newly emerged fry throughout all available rearing habitats. Thus, between- and within-population variation in the freshwater life history observed in these populations may be caused by small differences in the behaviour of individuals.

Tidal movements and residency of subyearling Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) in an Oregon salt marsh channel

2010 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
pp. 524-533 ◽  
Author(s):  
David K. Hering ◽  
Daniel L. Bottom ◽  
Earl F. Prentice ◽  
Kim K. Jones ◽  
Ian A. Fleming
Keyword(s):  
Salt Marsh ◽  
Chinook Salmon ◽  
Oncorhynchus Tshawytscha ◽  
River Estuary ◽  
Fork Length ◽  
Full Duplex ◽  
Salmon River ◽  
Salt Marsh Habitat ◽  
Tidal Cycles ◽  
Insight Into

A novel application of full-duplex passive integrated transponder (PIT) tag technology was used to investigate movements of individual subyearling Chinook salmon ( Oncorhynchus tshawytscha ; fork length ≥ 60 mm) into and out of tidally flooded salt marsh habitat in the Salmon River estuary, Oregon, USA. PIT interrogation was effective, with mean tag detection ≥ 92%. Salmon movement peaked late during both flood and ebb tide periods, indicating that salmon did not drift passively. Most movements were in the direction of tidal currents, but 20% of individuals entered the channel against the ebbing tide. Individuals occupied the intertidal channel for a median 4.9 h and as long as 8.9 h per tidal cycle, and few were detected moving when water depth was <0.4 m. Some individuals used the channel on multiple successive tidal cycles, and others entered intermittently over periods of up to 109 days. Using an individual-based approach, we characterized diversity of juvenile Chinook salmon behavior within a marsh channel, providing insight into the value of such habitats for conservation and restoration of salmon populations.

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