Homing of Sockeye Salmon within Hidden Lake, Alaska, Can Be Used to Achieve Hatchery Management Goals

The supplementation of natural populations of Pacific salmon Oncorhynchus spp. with hatchery fish poses unique management challenges. Two such challenges addressed in this study are limiting the number of hatchery fish spawning with natural-origin fish and maximizing the number of natural-origin fish in the supplementation broodstock. In this study, we focus on stock enhancement of Sockeye Salmon O. nerka in Hidden Lake, Alaska, where the Trail Lakes Hatchery supplements the natural population with hatchery-raised fry. Production in Hidden Lake is limited by the availability of spawning habitat and not by juvenile rearing capacity. The hatchery collects broodstock from the lake and releases fry with thermally marked otoliths at one [...]