Combining telemetry and mark-recapture models to manage a mixed stock fishery

In 1995, proportions of several stocks of Fraser River sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) began to enter the Fraser River system early to spawn creating uncertainty in mortality and spawning abundance estimates. This has created large problems for fisheries management in their attempt to protect less abundant stocks. To address this issue, Fisheries and Oceans Canada performed a large tagging study of sockeye salmon using radio telemetry in the Harrison River. This study aims to estimate distribution and mortality between the three sockeye populations in the Harrison River since the change in run timing. Using this information, a detection function will be developed to estimate the probability of a detecting a tag given that it is in the range of detection. The industry partner will benefit by enhancing their ecological modelling capacity and the ability to estimate detection efficiency in radio telemetry tagging studies.

Faculty Supervisor:

Sean Cox

Student:

Kaitlyn Dionne

Partner:

InStream Fisheries Research Inc.

Discipline:

Environmental sciences

Sector:

Environmental industry

University:

Simon Fraser University