Hooking Mortality of Landlocked Atlantic Salmon, Salmo salar, in a Hatchery Environment

Abstract

Experiments to evaluate mortality of age I+ hatchery-reared landlocked Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) caused by hooking with four terminal gear types were conducted at the Cobb Fish-cultural Station, Enfield, Maine in fall, 1972–1974. For the 3 study years, there was an overall mortality of only 3.3% for 1,200 salmon caught by angling, and a mortality of only 0.3% for control fish. Of the total mortality of angled fish, 42.5% occurred within the first 24 hours. Worm-hooked salmon suffered significantly greater mortality (5.7%) than fish caught on all hardware (single- and treble-hook data combined) (P < 0.001) and by single-hook hardware only (P < 0.01). Fly-hooked salmon mortality (4.6%) was significantly greater (P < 0.01) than mortality of fish hooked on all hardware. There was no significant difference in mortality between worm-hooked and fly-hooked salmon. Mortality caused by hooking with worms was primarily from fish hooked in the eye (76%) and gill or gill arch (12%). Fly-caught mortalities had been hooked mainly in the isthmus or tongue (42%), esophagus or stomach (25%), and eye (25%).