Aquaculture Operation Support Novel Approach Wild Atlantic Salmon Restoration

[TightLinesMaine]

The science has come a LONG way in 30 years. These are wild strain fish with the specific river’s genetic stock unmanipulated for mass production we are taking about now too. These folks working together are trying to create a better situation for our waters and Atlantic Salmon in our state. I doubt climate change is going to be helpful, but AT LEAST they groups are not sitting around whining and beeching and doing nothing. Science is based on trial, error, learning and progressing, NOT nay-saying.

well said

[taxid]

Good points however there is a lot more to salmon than just rearing them in a hatchery, dumping them into a river and then hoping for the best which is what has happened in the past. They are more sensitive than other salmonid species and more complex.

very true statement, I do have a lot of faith in the hatchery to produce the salmon, just concerned about the environment that the salmon will find themselves in and their ability to survive that in large numbers.

For sure!

[taxid]

Put a few pens in Sebago and maybe some of you guys will stop whining and crying.

 

[taxid]

climate change is a chinese hoax though?! 

but seriously, you may be right that it's "too late" or it may not be as successful as they intend.  However, Atlantic Salmon runs have been trending upward for the last couple of years in Penobscot (and the Kennebec).  Penobscot just hit the 1,000 mark for returns this year since the first time in almost a decade.  I think it's worth it to try something new, maybe it's their last-ditch effort.

 

[taxid]

The science has come a LONG way in 30 years. These are wild strain fish with the specific river’s genetic stock unmanipulated for mass production we are taking about now too. These folks working together are trying to create a better situation for our waters and Atlantic Salmon in our state. I doubt climate change is going to be helpful, but AT LEAST these groups are not sitting around whining and beeching and doing nothing. Science is based on trial, error, learning and progressing, NOT nay-saying.

Fishing is like that too, jigfrig! Do catch more fish than you did 30 years ago? How did you learn?

 

[TightLinesMaine]

https://bangordailynews.com/2019/10/05/news/hancock/this-major-effort-to-restore-atlantic-salmon-involves-a-company-that-raises-the-fish-for-food/

[CLAMFARMER]

https://bangordailynews.com/2019/10/05/news/hancock/this-major-effort-to-restore-atlantic-salmon-involves-a-company-that-raises-the-fish-for-food/

"Program leaders hope that by 2022, all 5,000 fish will have originally come from the Penobscot, Clark said.

“What you are missing there [with hatchery-grown fish] is all the natural selection from a fish having to survive in the wild and adapt to the environment in the Penobscot River. Those fish have various levels of exposure to natural selection, but they are coddled in the fish hatchery,” Ledwin said.

Atlantic salmon are anadromous, typically spending two or years in freshwater after hatching there, migrating to the ocean for another two or three years, and returning to their natal river to spawn.

The fish grown in penstocks for two or three years after having been naturally reared in the river should benefit from that exposure and are expected to come back to the river “at a significantly higher rate” than past restoration efforts have produced, Ledwin said.

Gradual progress
No one should expect the wild salmon population in the Penobscot and its tributaries to explode in the next three years, said Andrew Lively, a spokesman for Cooke Aquaculture USA, which raises salmon in farming pens off the Maine coast and is aiding in the restoration effort.

“It has to work gradually. The river has to be able to handle the fish,” Lively said, “but it will certainly be something that will enhance the number of Atlantic salmon in the river.”

[Baydog]

Question.......There must be wild Landlocked Salmon parr (drop down spawn from Matagamon)in the East branch. How will biologists differentiate them from wild Atlantic Salmon parr, and if a Landlocked salmon is introduced to salt water, can they osmoregulate?

[taxid]

Question.......There must be wild Landlocked Salmon parr (drop down spawn from Matagamon)in the East branch. How will biologists differentiate them from wild Atlantic Salmon parr, and if a Landlocked salmon is introduced to salt water, can they osmoregulate?

All trout and salmon can acclimate to salt water, however, they have to be a certain size as under that size they can't do it or will have problems. I.E. sea run brook trout, brown trout, cutthroat, arctic char, etc. etc

I would guess they will either fin clip or tag the fish if they think it's important. Not the temporary spaghetti or Floy tags but a tiny injectable tag that is scanable.

What's amazing is the growth they are getting in some experimental net pens in saltwater with steelhead in NH. Five pounds or more in seven months.

https://seagrant.unh.edu/steelheadtrout

[TightLinesMaine]

All trout and salmon can acclimate to salt water, however, the have to be a certain size as under that size they can't do it or will have problems. I.E. sea run brook trout, brown trout, cutthroat, arctic char, etc. etc

I would guess they will either fin clip or tag the fish if they think it's important. Not the temporary spaghetti or Floy tags but a tiny injectable tag that is scanable.

What's amazing is the growth they are getting in some experimental net pens in saltwater with steelhead in NH. Five pounds or more in seven months.

https://seagrant.unh.edu/steelheadtrout

what would size have to do with acclimation to salt water? what "problems" would happen under "that size" (which size is that?) or do you mean in terms of surviving predatory fish?

[taxid]

what would size have to do with acclimation to salt water? what "problems" would happen under "that size" (which size is that?) or do you mean in terms of surviving predatory fish?

The size corresponds with when the organs of the fish are mature enough to handle the increase in salinity. In salmon it's the smolt stage. Placing the same fish as fry into saltwater would he lethal.

Not the same, but I have found size also is closely tied to sexual maturity and age can take a back seat.  I have trout that are sexually mature at the end of their first year due to their increased size from ample feed vs. their wild counterparts that are much smaller.  As I'm sure you know a wild brook may not be sexually mature until age 2 or three while my farm raised fish are ready to go at the end of their first year. The egg quality may be better at age 2 but there most definitely are eggs.

[TightLinesMaine]

The size corresponds with when the organs of the fish are mature enough to handle the increase in salinity. In salmon it's the smolt stage. Placing the same fish as fry into saltwater would he lethal.

Not the same, but I have found size also is closely tied to sexual maturity and age can take a back seat.  I have trout that are sexually mature at the end of their first year due to their increased size from ample feed vs. their wild counterparts that are much smaller.  As I'm sure you know a wild brook may not be sexually mature until age 2 or three while my farm raised fish are ready to go at the end of their first year. The egg quality may be better at age 2 but there most definitely are eggs.

interesting, thanks

[CLAMFARMER]

The size corresponds with when the organs of the fish are mature enough to handle the increase in salinity. In salmon it's the smolt stage. Placing the same fish as fry into saltwater would he lethal.

Not the same, but I have found size also is closely tied to sexual maturity and age can take a back seat.  I have trout that are sexually mature at the end of their first year due to their increased size from ample feed vs. their wild counterparts that are much smaller.  As I'm sure you know a wild brook may not be sexually mature until age 2 or three while my farm raised fish are ready to go at the end of their first year. The egg quality may be better at age 2 but there most definitely are eggs.

 

Good info! Thanks!!
Nice to see people that have actual knowledge and experience to share!!! 

[taxid]

 

Good info! Thanks!!
Nice to see people that have actual knowledge and experience to share!!! 

Thanks for the kinds words. Still learning though. I have been criticized as sounding like a know it all. I can assure you I'm still learning.

Running into a new phenomenon this year with net pens in the trout pond. Twice now I've had large browns jump on top of one of the pens and not be able to get off. This time of year the brown males occasionally come straight up out of the water like a missile fired from a submarine and then flop down like a whale. Sometimes up to 4 feet high. During the night I've had two do that so far and expire on top of one of the cages. The picture below is the latest one. 22 1/2 inches and 5.02 pounds. As you can see he was lying there for a few hours. I will be putting up a barrier on the lid soon to keep them off.



I suspect it's a spawning ritual thing as I've seen king salmon do this in the fall up in Michgan. Has nothing to do with feeding as you can cast to a jumping salmon until the cows come home and you won't get one to hit. I think it's a display thing for rival males? However in salmon that come in from saltwater with fresh sea lice I believe the fish are trying to dislodge the sea lice? One advantage for the fish coming into fresh water is the sea lice that are acclimated to saltwater are imploding from the reduction of salinty. (A treatment for external parasites for saltwater fish is a dip in freshwater). Conversely a treatment for freshwater fish is a dip in saltwater.

[TightLinesMaine]

https://bangordailynews.com/2019/10/09/outdoors/the-total-penobscot-salmon-return-is-estimated-at-1170-and-rising/