| The Salmon River, NY, is the largest and most heavily fished tributary to Lake Ontario. Annual stocking sustains a Pacific salmon fishery, but an unknown amount of natural reproduction contributes to the population. Redd counts, carcass surveys and weekly juvenile seine hauls were conducted to determine the extent of natural reproduction of Chinook salmon in the Salmon River. A total of 1,945 and 2,851 redds were located in 2004 and 2005, respectively. The total adult population during both years was 48,272 (+/- 9,281) and 61,878 (+/- 10,411). Prespawning mortality and harvest of Chinook salmon was high during both years, allowing only 12.1 and 17.9% of the returning adult population to spawn in 2004 and 2005, respectively. Seine hauls produced an estimated juvenile abundance of 5.2 million (+/- 2.1 million) fish in 2005, whereas annual stocking consisted of only 300,000 fish. Although naturally produced fish supplement the population each year, survival to adulthood is unknown. |
