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• 1. [Article] Effects of Current Hatchery Practices on Salmon Odor Recognition and Responses

  Salmon hatcheries have been utilized throughout the Pacific Northwest for many decades to mitigate losses, supplement natural spawning populations, and to provide tribal, sport and commercial fishing opportunities. ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Effects of Current Hatchery Practices on Salmon Odor Recognition and Responses Author: Lemanski, Joseph R. Salmon hatcheries have been utilized throughout the Pacific Northwest for many decades to mitigate losses, supplement natural spawning populations, and to provide tribal, sport and commercial fishing opportunities. Currently, there is substantial debate on their efficacy and the potential threats hatchery-reared salmonids pose to natural populations. These concerns have lead to a large body of scientific investigation. The potential impacts hatchery-reared salmon may have on natural spawning populations can take many forms, such as competition, predation, and genetic introgression. Many of these issues arise from straying of hatchery-reared salmon from target return locations into areas where naturally spawning populations of salmon occur. In my thesis, I considered two questions related to hatchery practices and straying of hatchery-reared salmon. First, I addressed whether exposure to unfamiliar conspecifics during incubation (embryonic development) affects the population recognition responses of emergent steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss). I then examined whether dissolved free amino acids (DFAAs, chemicals believed to be important for natal stream identification in salmonids) are significantly altered as water sourced from a river passes through a salmon hatchery. The results of my first study suggested that newly emergent steelhead showed no preference for water conditioned by either familiar (fish from the same population) or unfamiliar (fish from geographically separate population) populations. These results suggest that exposure to unfamiliar or unrelated population specific odors during incubation in a hatchery may not have any significant effects on population recognition responses. The data from my second study suggested that both hatchery and river water DFAA profiles are very similar. I hypothesize that straying observed in hatchery-reared salmon may be due in part to a lack of a unique, distinguishable odor profile that hatchery-reared salmon might use to differentiate between target return locations and other potential spawning grounds. Title: Effects of Current Hatchery Practices on Salmon Odor Recognition and Responses Author: Lemanski, Joseph R. Salmon hatcheries have been utilized throughout the Pacific Northwest for many decades to mitigate losses, supplement natural spawning populations, and to provide tribal, sport and commercial fishing opportunities. Currently, there is substantial debate on their efficacy and the potential threats hatchery-reared salmonids pose to natural populations. These concerns have lead to a large body of scientific investigation. The potential impacts hatchery-reared salmon may have on natural spawning populations can take many forms, such as competition, predation, and genetic introgression. Many of these issues arise from straying of hatchery-reared salmon from target return locations into areas where naturally spawning populations of salmon occur. In my thesis, I considered two questions related to hatchery practices and straying of hatchery-reared salmon. First, I addressed whether exposure to unfamiliar conspecifics during incubation (embryonic development) affects the population recognition responses of emergent steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss). I then examined whether dissolved free amino acids (DFAAs, chemicals believed to be important for natal stream identification in salmonids) are significantly altered as water sourced from a river passes through a salmon hatchery. The results of my first study suggested that newly emergent steelhead showed no preference for water conditioned by either familiar (fish from the same population) or unfamiliar (fish from geographically separate population) populations. These results suggest that exposure to unfamiliar or unrelated population specific odors during incubation in a hatchery may not have any significant effects on population recognition responses. The data from my second study suggested that both hatchery and river water DFAA profiles are very similar. I hypothesize that straying observed in hatchery-reared salmon may be due in part to a lack of a unique, distinguishable odor profile that hatchery-reared salmon might use to differentiate between target return locations and other potential spawning grounds. Close