Premium
Feasibility of Dual‐Marking Age‐0 Chinook Salmon for Mark–Recapture Studies
Author(s) -
Gaines Phillip C.,
Martin Craig D.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
north american journal of fisheries management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.587
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1548-8675
pISSN - 0275-5947
DOI - 10.1577/m03-195.1
Subject(s) - chinook wind , oncorhynchus , juvenile , fish <actinopterygii> , mark and recapture , biology , fishery , zoology , demography , ecology , population , sociology
We investigated the short‐term mortality associated with the application of a dual mark on juvenile Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha used in mark–recapture trials. Treatment groups were either spray‐dyed with fluorescent pigments, stained with Bismarck brown, or marked with both. Acute mortality was greater for the spray‐dyed–Bismarck brown combination (0.48%) and the spray‐dyed (0.13%) treatment groups than for the Bismarck brown or control groups. Daily mortality was less than 0.15% for marked treatment groups for 3 d after marking. Cumulative mortality was greatest for the spray‐dyed (0.93%) and the spray‐dyed– Bismarck brown (0.84%) groups. Significant differences in mortality were not detected among groups ( P = 0.063) or within groups on a temporal scale ( P = 0.124). Recognition of fluorescent pigments was 100% during the study. Bismarck brown staining did not obscure the fluorescent pigments, which were easily differentiated among colors. We conclude that our dual‐marking technique provides researchers with a feasible method to differentially mass‐mark fish with minimal mortality. Moreover, mark recognition is greatly enhanced.