Research Document 1998/116

Status of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) stock of Pinware River, Labrador, 1997

By C.C. Mullins and D. Caines

Abstract

This is the second assessment of the status of the Atlantic salmon stock on Pinware River. A minimum of 6,110 ha of lacustrine habitat and 46,691 units of fluvial rearing habitat are available to salmon on this system. The minimum conservation egg deposition requirement is 11,847,390 eggs. It was estimated, based on mark-recapture, that 16% (95% CI 5 - 24%) of the conservation requirement was achieved in 1997. The proportion of large salmon observed at the tagging and recapture traps in 1997 was 40% higher than observed in 1996. This may have been due to the closure of the SFA 14B commercial salmon fishery in 1997. Except for the increase in the proportion of large salmon, the lower commercial effort and lower recreational bag limits since 1992 do not appear to have resulted in an increase in the total number of spawners on this river. Recreational catch and effort statistics were not collected by DFO in 1997. Therefore, it was not possible to accurately compare estimated catches and effort in 1997 with those in previous years.

The low numbers of salmon tagged and recaptured and the incomplete catch and effort statistics increases the uncertainty around the estimate of total returns based on mark-recapture. However, this uncertainty has been incorporated into the population estimate by calculating the probability of a lower or higher population size given the mark-recapture results observed. Based on this analysis, the probability that the conservation requirement was achieved in 1997 is very low.

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