A comparison between three Atlantic salmon river stocks; using classical population genetics, differences in life history traits and performance in sea ranching
Original version
This report is not to be cited without prior reference to the authorsAbstract
Characterisation of stocks is essential for fisheries and environmental management in
order to conserve genetic diversity. However, classical populationgenetic methods frequently fail
to document stock differences. In this paper we list a number of characters that were used to
compare the performance of the offspring of three adjacent river stocks during the freshwater
period in culture until release, and their returns as adults. The emphasis will be put on life history
traits and their consequences for growth and fishing mortality. We also present data on
polymorph isozyme variation between wild fish from the stocks. The overview indicate that it
rnay be necessary to include a number of traits to differentiate between stocks.