HOMING BEHAVIOR AND CONTRIBUTION TO 



COLUMBIA RIVER FISHERIES OF MARKED COHO SALMON 



RELEASED AT TWO LOCATIONS 



Robert R. Vreeland,' Roy J. Wahle,' and Arthur H. Arp-' 



ABSTRACT 



This study was initiated to determine the feasibility of creating or enhancing fisheries in specific areas 

 by releasing salmon smolts into those areas. In 1970, two groups each of approximately 100,000 

 1968-broodcoho salmon, Oncorhynchus kisutch, were marked with a right ventral (RV) or a left ventral 

 (LV) finclip at Little White Salmon National Fish Hatchery near Cooks, Wash. The LV-marked group 

 was transported by truck to Youngs Bay, 19 km (12 miles) from the mouth of the Columbia River near 

 Astoria, Oreg., and released in April 1970. The RV-marked group was released in May 1970 at Little 

 White Salmon Hatchery, 242 km (150 miles) from the mouth of the Columbia River. The Youngs Bay 

 and Columbia River gill-net fisheries were sampled for these marks in the fall of 1970 and 1971. The two 

 groups homed to their respective areas of release with very little straying. The LV-marked group 

 contributed 7.7 fish to the fisheries sampled for each 1,000 fish released, and the RV-marked group 

 contributed 11.7 fish to the fisheries sampled per 1,000 fish released. However, a fair comparison of the 

 contribution of the two groups is inhibited by 1) incomplete sampling for these marks in the ocean 

 fisheries, 2) the difference in time and size of release of the groups, 3) the unknown effect of delayed 

 mortality due to hauling the LV-marked group, and 4) duplication of these marks in the ocean fisheries. 



The Pacific salmon, Oncorhynchus spp., hatchery 

 program has undergone considerable evolution in 

 the past 10 yr. The escapement of adult fish to 

 hatcheries is often more than suflScient to supply 

 egg needs. In many cases, hatcheries receive siz- 

 able excesses of returning adults. These fish must 

 be disposed of either by releases into streams, 

 burial, donations, or sales. The sale of salmon car- 

 casses has caused considerable friction between 

 commercial fishermen and fishery agencies. Salm- 

 on returning to hatcheries often arrive in a con- 

 dition which makes them unsuitable for donation 

 or release into streams. Burial of the excess salm- 

 on is an obvious waste of a valuable resource. 



Taft and Shapovalov (1938) found the homing 

 instinct of coho salmon, 0. kisutch, to the parent 

 stream to be fairly exact. Hasler and Wisby (1951), 

 Wisby and Hasler (1954), and Groves et al. (1968) 

 reported the importance of olfaction in homing of 

 adult salmon. Hasler (1966) and Wagner (1969) felt 

 that the organic odor of the parent stream was 

 imprinted rapidly in juvenile salmon, possibly at 

 the time of downstream migration. We felt that if 



'Columbia Fisheries Program Office, National Marine 

 Fisheries Service, NOAA, 811 Northeast Oregon Street, 

 Portland, OR 97208. 



-Division of River Basin Studies, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser- 

 vice, 919 Northeast 19th Avenue, Portland, OR 97232. 



Manuscript accepted February 197.5. 

 FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 73, NO. 4, 1975. 



the homing instinct was exact and the home- 

 stream imprint was acquired quickly during parr- 

 smolt transformation, then the homing site could 

 be altered by transportation and release of coho 

 salmon smolts. 



The purpose of this study was to determine the 

 feasibility of creating or enhancing fisheries in 

 specific areas by releasing salmon smolts in those 

 areas. If salmon returned to the area of release, 

 the problem of excess hatchery returns could be 

 reduced. This homing behavior would provide local 

 fisheries with larger catches of salmon and a 

 longer fishing season. 



Youngs Bay was the site picked for testing the 

 homing behavior of salmon. It is about 19 km (12 

 miles) upstream from the mouth of the Columbia 

 River near Astoria, Oreg. The Lewis and Clark, 

 Walluski, Youngs, and Klaskanine rivers empty 

 into Youngs Bay (Figure 1). All are small rivers 

 with low summer flows and greatly fluctuating 

 winter flows. The Klaskanine Salmon Hatchery, 

 operated by the Fish Commission of Oregon, is 

 located on the North Fork of the Klaskanine River 

 (Weiss 1966). 



A commercial salmon fishery began on Youngs 

 Bay in the early 1900's. The bay was closed to 

 commercial fishing from 1931 to 1962, but has 

 remained open from 1962 to present. From 1962 to 



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