DNA-Based Stock Identification of Coastal Sockeye Salmon: Evidence for Stock-Specific Migration Behaviour of Central Coast (Rivers Inlet) Sockeye Salmon

摘要

Sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) stocks from the Central Coast of British Columbia (Rivers and Smith Inlet) formed the second most valuable salmon fishery in British Columbia until the late 1970s. Over a 20 year period these stocks then collapsed, with the Rivers Inlet stock falling to approximately 1/1,000th of its initial abundance by the late 1990s (McKinnell et al. 2001). Although the specific cause of the collapse has not been established, a review panel concluded that "The drastic declines in abundance appear to be due to an extended period of poor marine survival' and that the parallel collapses in both nearly pristine and logged watersheds "...is convincing evidence that the cause of the declines does not lie in freshwater habitat disturbance'" (Holtby et al. 2000).