On the Distribution of Young Sockeye Salmon (<i>Oncorhynchus nerka</i>) in Babine and Nilkitkwa Lakes, B.C.

Abstract

Babine Lake and connected Nilkitkwa Lake, a total lake area of 174 square miles, provide nursery facilities for progeny of the largest sockeye salmon run to the Skeena River in northern British Columbia.Based on catch per unit of fishing effort, tow-net collections in August and October, 1955, indicate that at least 67%, and possibly as much as 88%, of the total age 0 sockeye population of these lakes (estimated as 50 to 60 million) was concentrated in Nilkitkwa Lake and the North Arm of Babine Lake: that is, in 11.4% of the total lake area. Mean size of young sockeye in these areas of concentration was much smaller than in the sparsely populated remainder of Babine Lake.This unequal distribution of young sockeye, and resulting inefficient utilization of the lake nursery facilities, is apparently a result of the distribution of the spawning parent population and a limited dispersal of young sockeye from their points of entrance into the lake as fry.