The unpredictability and variation in adult recruits for Fraser sockeye both within and among major stocks cause challenges for harvest planning and rebuilding initiatives. This multi-year project will monitor and analyze variation in biological condition of juvenile sockeye in fresh water to understand variation in stock-specific survival. This project will apply and extend the results from a previous SEF juvenile sockeye research project that found stock-specific energetic condition of juveniles reflects variation in lake primary productivity and density of juveniles within a natal rearing lake. Moreover, mechanistic links to survival were developed, such as, interannual variability in fall-fry and smolt energetic condition are consistent with density-dependent growth and survival, critical minimal energy levels are associated with swim performance and potentially survival, and interannual and stock-specific variability in the portion of individuals at or near these critical energy levels. We propose to extend and apply these results by strategically assessing stock-specific variability in biological condition of juvenile salmon from key Fraser sockeye stocks.
Related Posts:
- Alsek River – Chinook and Sockeye Salmon Assessment
- Juneau Area Recreational Chinook Fisheries Interim Funding
- Maintaining Chinook production at Crystal Lake Hatchery
- SSSC Spawning and Incubation Facility (SPIFy)
- Transboundary Rivers, Juvenile Rearing Habitat Assessment
- Nass Sockeye Mark-Recapture Assessment Project
- Stikine River Chinook Salmon Telemetry
- Sockeye Salmon SNP Panel Genetic Baseline for the Fraser River
- Improving in-season pink salmon assessment through the collection of Fraser River pink salmon DNA baseline data
- Marking Maria Slough Chinook to evaluate representativeness of the exploitation rate indicator stock for the Fraser Summer Run age-0.3 stock group