480 Memoir Sears Foundation for Marine Research 



Data on survival after spawning — more adequate than data on survival during earlier 

 stages of life history — show that the percentage of Atlantic Salmon that survive spawn- 

 ing is usually rather small but is higher in North America than in Europe. The strain 

 of spawning leaves the fish thin and exhausted. Although some of the spawned-out 

 kelts descend to the sea in the autumn after spawning, others winter in the river and 

 migrate downstream the following spring, sometimes along with the migrating smolts. 

 That comparatively few are seen dead in the rivers suggests that most of those that 

 die regain salt water first. The high death rate probably results chiefly from a combi- 

 nation of exhausting travel up the river, prolonged fasting en route to the spawning 

 site, and production of the spawning products. 



The percentage of fish that survive after spawning to the stage when they are 

 ready to spawn again is reflected in the percentage of such fish in the catch of adults 

 participating in the run to a given area or river. The following are examples of such 

 percentages: for all the Canadian rivers investigated to 1934, 3— 26 "/o of the total 

 spawning populations of the rivers concerned (jo) ; Grand Cascapedia, Quebec, 34 "/(, 

 in 1926, and 22 "/o (29; Jj); Miramichi, N. B., 12.8 "/o {19); Upsalquitch, N. B., 

 5% (-^5)5 Moisie, Quebec, 16.7 "/o for 1922 and 1923 combined {loi), and 22.3 "/„ 

 (J2); Little Codroy, Newfoundland, 6 "/j for 1954, 5"/o for ^955 {io6)\ eastern New- 

 foundland, including Labrador, 16.^ "jg (20); Greenland, 14 "/o (53); rivers on the 

 east coast of Scotland, about 4''/o (100); two rivers on the west coast of Scotland, 

 II 0/0 and 34 "/o (116); all rivers of Ireland, about 5 "jo, or a range of i-i^^/o (i2g); 

 Adour River, France, 3.8 "/o (jjo). 



Of 6,475 kelts tagged and released, only 2.12 "/o were subsequently recaptured 

 (xo: 221). 



Of those that spawn a second, third, or more times, Menzies observed that in 

 one year, of 63 previous spawners in the Moisie River, 35 had spawned once before, 

 1 1 twice, 1 6 three times, and one four times (loi). On the coast of eastern Newfoundland 

 (including Labrador), in 1939, 15.9 "/o had spawned once, 0.5 "/o twice, and 0.08 "/o 

 three times (20). In six small rivers on the coast of western Newfoundland, of 70 previous 

 spawners, 15 had spawned twice or more, two had spawned three times, and one had 

 spawned four times (ll). 



In Ireland, among nearly 50,000 fish, the scales of which were examined, 3 "/„ 

 had two spawning marks, but only six fish had three marks (i2g). In Scotland only 

 0.2 "/o and o. i"/o of fish from Spey and Aberdeenshire Dee, respectively, on the east 

 coast, had spawned twice before capture. In the Add River, 6.^ "/o had two spawning 

 marks, 2.9 "/„, three. A fish with four spawning marks was taken in the Add in 19 14, 

 and another was taken in the Conon in 1920 (lOO). 



The percentage of Atlantic Salmon that survive spawning 'is ^higher among 

 females than among males. A male that returns to spawn a second time is a rarity. 

 According to Menzies, there is no record of a male spawning three times (loi: 338), 

 in spite of a report that six of the 1 6 Moisie fish that had spawned three times were 

 males; Menzies was inclined to question the identification. However, if they were 



