Coho and chinook mass marking
Mass marking is an important tool for stock assessment, hatchery management and fishing opportunities. Marking is the act of visibly marking hatchery-raised Pacific salmon, making them easily distinguishable from wild salmon.
We clip the small adipose fin of most coho and many chinook hatchery salmon. These salmon are called “hatchery-marked” or “marked” salmon. Coded-wire-tags may also be inserted at this juvenile stage to support stock assessment.
Our mass marking strategy is one of many tools used by hatchery managers, scientists and technicians to visually identify hatchery fish to:
- Assess salmon populations: Accurate assessment of the number of wild vs. hatchery fish is essential in efforts to limit genetic impacts and recover wild salmon populations.
- Manage hatcheries: Under Canada’s broodstock guidelines, wild fish are targeted to reduce genetic impacts. Mass-marking helps hatchery workers meet those goals by making hatchery fish readily identifiable. For example, visual identification makes it possible for salmon managers to determine the number of hatchery fish on the spawning grounds and take corrective action to reduce the impact to wild stocks.
- Support fishing opportunities: Visual identification of coho makes it possible for harvesters to identify and retain hatchery-marked coho when mark selective fishing opportunities are open.
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