Annual Coded Wire Tag Program; Missing Production Groups, 1994 Annual Report

Abstract

In 1989, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) received funding from the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) to initiate a program of coded-wire tagging production groups of anadromous fish that did not have representative groups marked for evaluation. The purpose of the program is to mark a representative group of fish from each production release. The three objectives of the program are: (1) To estimate the survival of each release group, (2) To estimate the contribution of each release group to ocean and in river fisheries, and (3) To estimate the straying rate of hatchery fish. This information will be used to evaluate hatchery practices and individual broodstocks. It will also enable salmon harvest managers to manage harvest of excess hatchery fish while protecting the threatened or endangered stocks. In order to meet these objectives, a minimum of one marked group of fish for each production release is necessary for evaluation. The level of marking varies according to the hatchery's location, species of fish, and age at release. All fish released from the various facilities along with mark/unmarked release ratios are reported to the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission (PSMFC). All fish recovered in the various fisheries or at themore » hatchery are sampled to recover coded-wire tags. This information is then reported to the PSMFC along with sampling rates. Contribution to various fisheries and survival of the release groups can then be estimated from this information.« less