Session Twelve: Nearshore Fish Ecology and Interactions THE ESCAPE OF JUVENILE FARMED ATLANTIC SALMON FROM HATCHERIES INTO FRESHWATER STREAMS IN NEW BRUNSWICK, CANADA

• Main Authors: Jonathan W. Carr, Frederick G. Whoriskey
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Canada; Atlantic salmon
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.547.7306; http://docs.informatics.management.dal.ca/gsdl/collect/bofep1/pdf/WG/BOFEP7-2006-201.pdf

The escape of juvenile Atlantic salmon from freshwater hatcheries supplying the salmon farming indus-try is a route for interactions between wild and farmed fi sh; however, the scale of this problem has not been substantially examined. We monitored temporal trends in abundance of escaped juvenile farmed salmon in the Magaguadavic River and Chamcook Stream over several years. In addition, we assessed more than 90 per cent of the commercial hatcheries located adjacent to freshwater streams in New Brunswick and which were producing salmon smolts in 2004. Escaped juvenile fi sh were recorded in 75 per cent of the streams electrofi shed close to hatcheries. Numbers varied per site and among years. However, escaped juvenile salmon were found every year at sites near hatcheries in the Magaguadavic River and Chamcook Stream. In the Magaguadavic River, juvenile escapees outnumbered wild salmon parr in most years. These results highlight the need for the implementation of a containment strategy for freshwater hatcheries to reduce escapes. The use of European Atlantic salmon strains for commercial culture by the salmon farming industry has never been permitted in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, Canada and has been prohibited in Maine, USA since 2003. Despite this, varying levels of European ancestry were detected in escaped farmed salmon obtained from the Magaguadavic River and Chamcook Stream, New Brunswick. Of the 53 escaped farm smolts from the Magaguadavic River and 17 escaped hatchery parr from Chamcook Stream analyzed, a single European type al-