Redd Superimposition and Egg Capacity of Pink Salmon Spawning Beds

• Published in: Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada
• Main Author: McNeil, William J.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1964
• Subjects: Pink salmon; Alaska
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/f64-119; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/f64-119

A study of egg recruitment to pink salmon spawning beds in two southeastern Alaska streams (Indian Creek and Harris River) has shown that egg loss during spawning increases as the density of female spawners increases. Mortality was caused for the most part by superimposition of redds.A mathematical model of spawning success is derived. The model assumes that the curve describing the recruitment of eggs to a spawning bed is asymptotic and that pink salmon females spawning within any denned spawning ground select the sites of their redds at random. The model is used to estimate the asymptotic limit of the egg recruitment curve for a Harris River spawning bed. Levels of mortality associated with various densities of spawning female pink salmon are predicted for Harris River from the model.