Mass Marking with Salmon Otoliths
Presentation Abstract
In the North Pacific over a billion salmon are otolith thermally marked annually. In Washington State greater than 30 million Chinook, Chum and Sockeye are marked in the Columbia River, Coastal Washington and the Salish Sea each year. The goal of this marking program is to provide a cost effective mass marking tool that can provide fisheries manager’s accurate information regarding brood year of returning adults and the contribution of hatchery and wild fish to fisheries and escapement estimates. Though infrastructure costs to existing hatcheries can seem high, once in place provide a low cost marking program that can effectively mark 100% of the hatchery production. The benefits and limitations of an otolith marking program in relation to other marking techniques will be discussed.
Session Title
Session S-08D: Salmon Recovery: Implementation and Progress I
Conference Track
Species and Food Webs
Conference Name
Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference (2014 : Seattle, Wash.)
Document Type
Event
Start Date
1-5-2014 5:00 PM
End Date
1-5-2014 6:30 PM
Location
Room 6C
Genre/Form
conference proceedings; presentations (communicative events)
Contributing Repository
Digital content made available by University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Subjects – Topical (LCSH)
Salmon--Marking--Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.)
Geographic Coverage
Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.)
Rights
This resource is displayed for educational purposes only and may be subject to U.S. and international copyright laws. For more information about rights or obtaining copies of this resource, please contact University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225-9103, USA (360-650-7534; heritage.resources@wwu.edu) and refer to the collection name and identifier. Any materials cited must be attributed to the Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference Records, University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Type
Text
Language
English
Format
application/pdf
Mass Marking with Salmon Otoliths
Room 6C
In the North Pacific over a billion salmon are otolith thermally marked annually. In Washington State greater than 30 million Chinook, Chum and Sockeye are marked in the Columbia River, Coastal Washington and the Salish Sea each year. The goal of this marking program is to provide a cost effective mass marking tool that can provide fisheries manager’s accurate information regarding brood year of returning adults and the contribution of hatchery and wild fish to fisheries and escapement estimates. Though infrastructure costs to existing hatcheries can seem high, once in place provide a low cost marking program that can effectively mark 100% of the hatchery production. The benefits and limitations of an otolith marking program in relation to other marking techniques will be discussed.
