Factors Determining the Replenishment of Pink Salmon Oncorhynchus gorbuscha (Salmonidae) on Iturup Island

Abstract

Based on the data on the abundance of 53 generations of pink salmon Oncorhynchus gorbuscha of Iturup Island (spawners on spawning grounds, downstream migrating juveniles and the return of mature fish), a model describing the dependence of the abundance of mature pink salmon offspring on the initial abundance of generations and the effect of external factors was constructed using nonlinear regression analysis. The model explains about 80% of the replenishment variability, and it depends more on the effect of external factors in the freshwater period of life. The variability of replenishment is most closely related to factors related to the hydrological regime of rivers. The dependence of replenishment on the abundance of juveniles migrating downstream from spawning grounds, described by the dome-shaped curve, indicates the limiting effect of density factors on the formation of the abundance of pink salmon during the marine period of life. At the same time, a statistically significant effect of the abundance of juveniles released from fish hatcheries on the dynamics of the replenishment was not found.