Modeling the Effects of Poststocking Survival Rates on the Success of Stocking Hatchery Atlantic Salmon in a New Brunswick River

Abstract

The effect of poststocking survival rate on the success of a hatchery stocking program to enhance Atlantic salmon Salmo salar was modeled with empirical data from the Nepisiguit River, New Brunswick, Canada. Removal of adults from the wild population for use as hatchery broodstock was beneficial to population growth if the survival rate of their hatchery-reared progeny was 10% or more of that of wild-reared juveniles in the first year following stocking and equivalent to the survival of wild-reared juveniles and adults thereafter. Returns of marked adult fish to a counting fence were consistent with average poststocking survival rates (relative to wild-reared fish) of 5–20%, so it appears the hatchery program was probably successful in enhancing returns of adult Atlantic salmon to the river.