Seminatural Rearing of Atlantic Salmon ( Salmo salar ) in Newfoundland

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• Main Authors: Pepper, V. A., Nicholls, T., Oliver, N. P.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1987
• Subjects: Aquatic Science; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; Atlantic salmon; Newfoundland; Salmo salar
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/f87-042; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/f87-042

Atlantic salmon fry (Salmo salar) obtained from an artificial spawning channel and a deep-substrate incubator, were reared in mesh "troughs" in an artificial rearing channel and in floating lake cages. Fry placed in the lake cages were able to complete their first feeding phase on a diet of natural lake zooplankton but growth performance was improved when artifical diets were used to supplement natural food. Parr fed selectively on Daphnia catawba and mature Epischura lacustris. Parr reared in the mesh troughs were hand-fed a commercial diet. The 90-d average release weight ranged from 1.8 to 3.1 g for parr from the mesh troughs and from 0.9 to 3.1 g for parr from the lake cages. Growth of parr in these experiments resulted in an average weight advantage of approximately 2.3–4.5 times over parr captured from natural riverine habitat at the end of the experiment. Overall swim-up fry to fall-fingerling survival from these experiments was 52% in 1983 and 76% in 1984. Survival and growth varied inversely with density in the mesh trough experiments.