DRUCKER: COHO SALMON OF KARLUK RIVER SYSTEM 



Table 2. — Average fecundity of coho salmon stocks from North American and 

 Asiatic river systems, arranged geographically from north to south. 



Area 



Lati- 

 tuda 



Average 

 number 

 of eggs 



Reference 



North America 

 Swonson River, Alaska 

 Bear Creek, Alaska 

 Dairy Creek, Alaska 

 Karluk River, Alaska 

 Pasogshak River, Alaska 

 Scshin Creek, Alaska 

 Port Herbert, Alaska 

 Namu River, British Columbia 

 Fraser River, British Columbia 

 Nile Creek, British Columbia 

 Cultus Lake Hatchery, British Columbia 

 Port John, British Columbia 

 Cowichan River, British Columbia 

 Oliver Creek, British Columbia 

 Beadnell Creek, British Columbia 

 Seattle, Wash. 

 Winter Creek, Wash. 

 Fall Creek, Alsea River, Ore. 

 Scott Creek, Calif. 



Asia 



East coast of Kamchatka, USSR: 

 Ushki Hatchery 

 Kamchatka River 

 Paratunka River 



West coast of Kamchatka, USSR: 

 Bolshoya River 



Sakhalin Island, USSR: 

 Tymi River 



1 Engel, Larry J. 1966. Egg-take investigations in Cook Inlet drainage and Prince William Sound. 

 In Federal aid in fish restoration, 1965-66 progress report. Vol. 7: 109-116, Alaska Dep. Fish Game, 

 Sport Fish Div., Juneau, Alaska. (Unpublished.) 



- Lav^ler, Robert E. 1963. Silver salmon egg taking investigations in Cook Inlet drainage. In Ding- 

 ell-Johnson project report, 1962-63, Vol. 4: 161-173, Alaska Dep. Fish Game, Sport Fish DIv., Juneau, 

 Alaska. (Unpublished.) 



^ Lawler, Robert E. 1964. Egg take investigations in Cook Inlet and Prince William Sound. In 

 Dingell-Johnson project report, 1963-64, Vol. 5: 123-132, Alaska Dep, Fish Game, Sport Fish Div., Juneau, 

 Alaska. (Unpublished.) 



* Engel, Larry J. 1965. Egg take investigations in Cook Inlet drainage and Prince William Sound. 

 In Dingell-Johnson project report, 1964-65, Vol. 6: 155-163, Alaska Dep. Fish Game, Sport Fish Div., Ju- 

 neau, Alaska. (Unpublished.) 



= Marriott, Richard A. 1968. Inventory and cataloging of the sport fish waters In southwest Alaska. 

 In Federal aid in fish restoration, 1967-68 progress reporf. Vol. 9: 81-93. Alaska Dep. Fish Game, 

 Sport Fish Div., Juneau, Alaska. (Unpublished.) 



are more fecund than coho salmon from more 

 southerly areas in North America (Figure 3). 

 Stocks of coho salmon from Asiatic river systems 

 are extremely fecund, even more so than North 

 American stocks in more northerly latitudes. 

 The high fecundity of Karluk River coho salmon 

 more closely resembles the fecundity of Asiatic 

 stocks than North American ones. 



Contrary to these findings for coho salmon, 

 Rounsefell (1957) suggests that for the genus 

 Oncorhynchus, salmon in southern latitudes may 

 be more fecund than those in northern latitudes 



because of ". . . the higher age at maturity, and 

 therefore slower growth rates, from south to 

 north." Rounsefell found that the amount of 

 time juvenile sockeye salmon spent in fresh 

 water had no effect on fecundity, but the amount 

 of time the adults spent at sea did have an effect: 

 adult sockeye salmon that spent 2 years at sea 

 had higher fecundity counts than fish of the same 

 size that spent 3 years at sea. With coho salmon, 

 however, the greater age at maturity is not due 

 to increased time in the ocean but to increased 

 time in fresh water. 



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