Juvenile salmon usage of the Skeena River estuary.
Migratory salmon transit estuary habitats on their way out to the ocean but this phase of their life cycle is more poorly understood than other phases. The estuaries of large river systems in particular may support many populations and several species of salmon that originate from throughout the ups...
Published in: | PLOS ONE |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2015
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0118988 https://doaj.org/article/2d12dcccbea34cf39c80b5f690746478 |
id |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:2d12dcccbea34cf39c80b5f690746478 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:2d12dcccbea34cf39c80b5f690746478 2023-05-15T16:17:04+02:00 Juvenile salmon usage of the Skeena River estuary. Charmaine Carr-Harris Allen S Gottesfeld Jonathan W Moore 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0118988 https://doaj.org/article/2d12dcccbea34cf39c80b5f690746478 EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0118988 https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0118988 https://doaj.org/article/2d12dcccbea34cf39c80b5f690746478 PLoS ONE, Vol 10, Iss 3, p e0118988 (2015) Medicine R Science Q article 2015 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0118988 2022-12-31T12:48:27Z Migratory salmon transit estuary habitats on their way out to the ocean but this phase of their life cycle is more poorly understood than other phases. The estuaries of large river systems in particular may support many populations and several species of salmon that originate from throughout the upstream river. The Skeena River of British Columbia, Canada, is a large river system with high salmon population- and species-level diversity. The estuary of the Skeena River is under pressure from industrial development, with two gas liquefaction terminals and a potash loading facility in various stages of environmental review processes, providing motivation for understanding the usage of the estuary by juvenile salmon. We conducted a juvenile salmonid sampling program throughout the Skeena River estuary in 2007 and 2013 to investigate the spatial and temporal distribution of different species and populations of salmon. We captured six species of juvenile anadromous salmonids throughout the estuary in both years, and found that areas proposed for development support some of the highest abundances of some species of salmon. Specifically, the highest abundances of sockeye (both years), Chinook in 2007, and coho salmon in 2013 were captured in areas proposed for development. For example, juvenile sockeye salmon were 2-8 times more abundant in the proposed development areas. Genetic stock assignment demonstrated that the Chinook salmon and most of the sockeye salmon that were captured originated from throughout the Skeena watershed, while some sockeye salmon came from the Nass, Stikine, Southeast Alaska, and coastal systems on the northern and central coasts of British Columbia. These fish support extensive commercial, recreational, and First Nations fisheries throughout the Skeena River and beyond. Our results demonstrate that estuary habitats integrate species and population diversity of salmon, and that if proposed development negatively affects the salmon populations that use the estuary, then numerous fisheries would ... Article in Journal/Newspaper First Nations Alaska Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Canada British Columbia ENVELOPE(-125.003,-125.003,54.000,54.000) Sockeye ENVELOPE(-130.143,-130.143,54.160,54.160) Skeena ENVELOPE(-130.198,-130.198,53.646,53.646) Skeena River ENVELOPE(-130.113,-130.113,54.015,54.015) Stikine ENVELOPE(-131.803,-131.803,56.699,56.699) PLOS ONE 10 3 e0118988 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Medicine R Science Q |
spellingShingle |
Medicine R Science Q Charmaine Carr-Harris Allen S Gottesfeld Jonathan W Moore Juvenile salmon usage of the Skeena River estuary. |
topic_facet |
Medicine R Science Q |
description |
Migratory salmon transit estuary habitats on their way out to the ocean but this phase of their life cycle is more poorly understood than other phases. The estuaries of large river systems in particular may support many populations and several species of salmon that originate from throughout the upstream river. The Skeena River of British Columbia, Canada, is a large river system with high salmon population- and species-level diversity. The estuary of the Skeena River is under pressure from industrial development, with two gas liquefaction terminals and a potash loading facility in various stages of environmental review processes, providing motivation for understanding the usage of the estuary by juvenile salmon. We conducted a juvenile salmonid sampling program throughout the Skeena River estuary in 2007 and 2013 to investigate the spatial and temporal distribution of different species and populations of salmon. We captured six species of juvenile anadromous salmonids throughout the estuary in both years, and found that areas proposed for development support some of the highest abundances of some species of salmon. Specifically, the highest abundances of sockeye (both years), Chinook in 2007, and coho salmon in 2013 were captured in areas proposed for development. For example, juvenile sockeye salmon were 2-8 times more abundant in the proposed development areas. Genetic stock assignment demonstrated that the Chinook salmon and most of the sockeye salmon that were captured originated from throughout the Skeena watershed, while some sockeye salmon came from the Nass, Stikine, Southeast Alaska, and coastal systems on the northern and central coasts of British Columbia. These fish support extensive commercial, recreational, and First Nations fisheries throughout the Skeena River and beyond. Our results demonstrate that estuary habitats integrate species and population diversity of salmon, and that if proposed development negatively affects the salmon populations that use the estuary, then numerous fisheries would ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Charmaine Carr-Harris Allen S Gottesfeld Jonathan W Moore |
author_facet |
Charmaine Carr-Harris Allen S Gottesfeld Jonathan W Moore |
author_sort |
Charmaine Carr-Harris |
title |
Juvenile salmon usage of the Skeena River estuary. |
title_short |
Juvenile salmon usage of the Skeena River estuary. |
title_full |
Juvenile salmon usage of the Skeena River estuary. |
title_fullStr |
Juvenile salmon usage of the Skeena River estuary. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Juvenile salmon usage of the Skeena River estuary. |
title_sort |
juvenile salmon usage of the skeena river estuary. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0118988 https://doaj.org/article/2d12dcccbea34cf39c80b5f690746478 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-125.003,-125.003,54.000,54.000) ENVELOPE(-130.143,-130.143,54.160,54.160) ENVELOPE(-130.198,-130.198,53.646,53.646) ENVELOPE(-130.113,-130.113,54.015,54.015) ENVELOPE(-131.803,-131.803,56.699,56.699) |
geographic |
Canada British Columbia Sockeye Skeena Skeena River Stikine |
geographic_facet |
Canada British Columbia Sockeye Skeena Skeena River Stikine |
genre |
First Nations Alaska |
genre_facet |
First Nations Alaska |
op_source |
PLoS ONE, Vol 10, Iss 3, p e0118988 (2015) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0118988 https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0118988 https://doaj.org/article/2d12dcccbea34cf39c80b5f690746478 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0118988 |
container_title |
PLOS ONE |
container_volume |
10 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
e0118988 |
_version_ |
1766002906156236800 |