Growth Rate Characteristics during Early Marine Life and Sea-entry Conditions of Juvenile Chum Salmon Originating from Two Rivers along the Pacific Coast of Hokkaido, Japan

Abstract Excerpt:
Juvenile chum salmon originating from rivers along the Pacific coast of Hokkaido, Japan migrate northwards to the Sea of Okhotsk, typically passing off the easternmost part of Hokkaido (Irie 1990; Chistyakova and Bugaev 2013). Japanese juvenile chum salmon are likely to undergo growth-dependent mortality (Honda et al. 2017, 2018). Thus, understanding a suitable release timing and body size to make fish grow faster after sea entry is desired, to improve release strategies from Japanese hatcheries.