Early Marine Mortality of Marked Juvenile Chum Salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) Released into Hood Canal, Puget Sound, Washington, in 1980

Abstract

The average daily loss in numbers from a group of fluorescently marked, hatchery-reared, juvenile chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) remaining in the nearshore zone following their release from the hatchery into southern Hood Canal, Washington State, was estimated at 38–49%. This estimated loss was then adjusted by the estimated maximum emigration of marked fish from the sampling area and the average daily mortality over a 2- and a 4-d time period estimated at between 31 and 46%. These estimates are an order of magnitude higher than estimates of the average daily mortality of naturally emigrating juvenile pink salmon (O. gorbuscha) from the Bella Coola River, British Columbia, over a 40-d time period (Parker 1968). The two studies are contrasted and it is suggested that daily mortality is highly variable over the 40 d subsequent to saltwater entry, with mortality higher initially, particularly for those fish remaining close to their point of saltwater entry.