Experiments on the Descent and Feeding of Hatchery-reared Salmon smolts (Salmo salarL.) in the River Bush

Abstract

Marked hatchery-reared smolts were released into the River Bush on the 1 May and 19 May 1980. and the time for their descent to trapping facilities was monitored. Of the smolts recaptured in each experiment 56.2% and 75.8% respectively descended the 3.5 km to the traps within 48 h, and the overall patterns of their downstream movements were found to be correlated to that of wild smolts. Smolts migrating from control tanks did so more slowly than those released into the river, and were not correlated with the movements of wild smolts. The feeding of recaptured hatchery smolts was compared with that of wild smolts for up to 11 days after the start of each experiment. It was found that most invertebrate groupings were not consumed at significantly different levels in the two groups, and that hatchery-reared fish began feeding on invertebrate food within 9 hours of release.