Artificial reproduction of pacific salmons in the Amur River basin: history, current state, prospects

Experience of pacific salmon artificial reproduction is discussed. Generalized data on juveniles (mostly fall chum salmon) release from hatcheries in the Amur River basin are presented. Information about the fish eggs origin (collection points) and transportation to incubation is provided. Some local features of salmon hatcheries are noted. Thus, the hatcheries in the middle Amur (Teplovsky and Bijansky) used previously the eggs collected in local tributaries of the Amur but recently, in conditions of low abundance of spawners, they transfer the eggs for incubation from fish farms located in the lower Amur. On the contrary, the hatcheries in the lower Amur (Udinsky, Gursky, and Anyuisky) collected the eggs in many dispersed sites in the beginning of their exploitation, but later, when local herds of artificial origin had appeared, they collected the eggs from producers coming to the hatcheries. This experience of eggs collection in dispersed temporary sites could be useful for periods of low stocks of pacific salmons in the Amur basin. The last such period started in 2017, so the fishery officials, as the Amur branch of Glavrybvod, can use this approach. Large transfers of chum eggs within the basin and from other rivers of the Okhotsk Sea and Japan Sea basins, presumably could affect genetic diversity, population structure and gene pool of this species. First results on evaluation efficiency of salmon hatcheries are discussed on the data of otolith marking started in 2015. Negative dependence of chum salmon catch on release of their juveniles is found: increasing of the juveniles output does not provide higher catches. Besides, the number of producers returned to hatcheries does not depend on the number of juveniles released from these hatcheries in the past, but corresponds with general dynamics of salmon stocks in the entire Amur basin. We believe that returns of chum salmon of wild and artificial origin have similar changes caused by same factors influencing on fish in the river and marine periods of their life.

1. Altukhov, Yu.P., Geneticheskiye protsessy v populyatsiyakh (Genetic processes in populations), Moscow: Nauka, 1989.

2. Belyaev, V.A., Probatov, N.S., Zolotukhin, S.F., and Mironova, T.N., Problems of salmon farming in the Amur river basin, in Sb. nauchn. dokl. rossiisko-am. konf. sokhraneniyu lososevykh “Voprosy vzaimodeistviya estestvennykh i iskusstvennykh populyatsii lososei” (Collect. Sci. Pap. Russ.- Am. Conf. Coserv. Salmonids “Issues of Interaction between Wild and Artificial Salmon Populations), Khabarovsk: Khabar. Otd. TINRO-Tsentra, 2000, pp. 15–25.

3. Belyansky, V.Ya. and Khovansky, I.E., reproduction of water biological resources and sport fisheries management in Amur River Basin, Vopr. Rybolov., 2009, vol. 10, no. 3 (39), pp. 414–422.

4. Vasiliev, I.M., Experience of Teplovsky fish hatchery Amurrybvod, in Tr. soveshch. po voprosam lososovogo khozyaystva Dal’nego Vostoka (Proceedings of meetings on salmon Farms in the Far East), Moscow: Аkad. Nauk SSSR, 1954, pp. 111–119.

5. Vronsky, B.B., On the inadmissibility of transportation of caviar in the factory breeding of far Eastern salmon, in Tez. dokl. IV Vsesoyuz. soveshch. po nauch.-tekhn. problemam marikul’tury (Abstracts. report IV All-Union. meeting on scientific and technical mariculture issues), Vladivostok: TINRO, 1983, pp. 14–22.

6. Gritsenko, O.F., Kovtun, A.A., and Kostkin, V.K., Ekologiya i vosproizvodstvo kety i gorbushi (Ecology and Reproduction of Chum and Pink Salmon), Moscow: Agropromizdat, 1987.

7. Yefanov, V.N., Kaev, A.M., and Kovtun, A.A., Introduction results of fall chum salmon eggs from the Kurilka river to the Naiba river, Izv. Tikhookean. Nauchno-Issled. Inst. Rybn. Khoz. Okeanogr., 1979, vol. 103, pp. 86–93.

8. Zaporozhets, G.V. and Zaporozhets, O.M., Lososevye rybovodnye zavody Dal’nego Vostoka v ekosistemakh severnoi Patsifiki (Salmon Hatcheries of the Far East in the Ecosystems of the North Pacific), Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky: Kamchatpress, 2011.

9. Zolotukhin, S.F., Keta reki Ussuri (Chum Salmon of the Ussuri River), Vladivostok: TINRO-Tsentr, 2007.

10. Ishkhanyan, M.N. and Karpenko, N.V., Ekonometrika. Chast’ 1. Parnaya regressiya (Econometrics. Part 1. Pairwise regression), Moscow: MGUPS (MIIT), 2016.

11. Kaev, A.M. and Ignatiev, Yu.I., Plant growing of salmon in Sakhalin region, Rybn. Khoz., 2007, no. 6, pp. 57–60.

12. Kovtun, A.A., Reproduction of autumn chum salmon Oncorhynchus keta (Walbaum) in southern Sakhalin, Vopr. Ikhtiol., 1986. vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 68–73.

13. Kovtun, A.A., Resource’s status, commerce and differentiation of chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta Walbaum) return in Tyim river (Sakhalin) for 1960—2001 period, W ater life biology, resources status and condition of inhabitation in Sakhalin-Kuril region and adjoining water area: Transactions of the Sakhalin Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk: SakhNIRO, 2002, vol. 4, pp. 133–148.

14. Kuznetsov, I.I., Materials for artificial breeding of chum salmon on the Amur river according to observations of 1909–1910, Materials for the knowledge of Russian fishing, 1912, vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 65–95.

15. Kusnetzow, I.I., Some observations on the spawning of the Amur and Kamchatka salmons, Izv. Tikhookean. Nauchno-Promysl. Stn., 1928, vol. 2, no. 3.

16. Kuznetsov, I.I., The Role of colonization and forestry in the depletion of salmon stocks, Byul. ryb. khoz-va, 1926, no. 2, pp. 4–6.

17. Kumantsov, M.I., Artificial reproduction of aquatic living resources in 2008, Rybn. Khoz., 2008, no. 6, pp. 15–17.

18. Lakin, G.F., Biometriya (Biometrics), 4th ed., Moscow: Vysshaya Shkola, 1990.

19. Levanidov, V.Ya., Results and prospects of breeding Amur autumn chum salmon, Rybn. Khoz., 1954, no. 6, pp. 34–38.

20. Levanidov, V.Ya., Ways to strengthen the reproduction of Amur chum salmon, in Tr. soveshch. po voprosam lososovogo khozyaystva Dal’nego Vostoka (Proceedings of meetings on salmon Farms in the Far East), Moscow: Аkad. Nauk SSSR, 1954, pp. 120–128.

21. Lichatowich, D., Salmon without rivers. A history of the Pacific salmon crisis, Washington: Island Press, 1999.

22. Lyubaeva, T.N., Lyubaev, V.Ya., and Sidorova, S.V., Formation of factory populations of chum salmon and their introduction into the natural environment (on the example of the Okhotsk RLZ), in Sb. nauchn. dokl. rossiisko-am. konf. sokhraneniyu lososevykh “Voprosy vzaimodeistviya estestvennykh i iskusstvennykh populyatsii lososei” (Collect. Sci. Pap. Russ.-Am. Conf. Coserv. Salmonids “Issues of Interaction between Wild and Artificial Salmon Populations), Khabarovsk: Khabar. Otd. TINRO-Tsentra, 2000, pp. 80–82.

23. Markovtsev, V.G., On the activities of salmon hatcheries of private ownership, in Byull. N 4 realizatsii “Kontseptsii dal’nevostochnoi basseinovoi programmy izucheniya tikhookeanskikh lososei” (Bull. No. 4 Implementation of “The Concept of the Far Eastern Basin Program for the Study of Pacific Salmon”), Vladivostok: TINRO-Tsentr, 2009, pp. 130–133.

24. Mikheev, P.B., Baklanov, M.A., and Puzik, A.Y., Application of geochemical tags for ichthyological research , Sovremennoye sostoyaniye vodnykh bioresursov (Current state of aquatic bioresources, V international conference), Novosibirsk: Novosibirskiy gosudarstvennyy agrarnyy universitet, 2019, pp. 101–104.

25. Novomodny, G.V., Zolotukhin, S.F., and Sharov, P.O., Ryby Amura: bogatstvo i krizis (Fish of the Amur River: Wealth and Crisis), Vladivostok: Apel’sin, 2004.

26. Ostrovsky, V.I., Kotsyuk, D.V., and Kolpakov, N.V., The results of the salmon fishing season in the Khabarovsk Territory in 2018, in Byulleten’ no. 13 izucheniya tikhookeanskikh lososei na Dal’nem Vostokie (Bulletin No. 13 for the Study of Pacific Salmon in the Far East), Vladivostok: TINRO-Tsentr, 2018, pp. 88–93.

27. Plokhinsky, N.A., Biometriya (Biometrics), Moscow: Mosk. Gos. Univ., 1970.

28. Rosly, Yu.S., Age structure of populations of Pacific salmon from the Amur basin, in Biologiya prokhodnykh ryb Dal’nego Vostoka (Biology of Anadromous Fishes in the Far East), Vladivostok: Dal’nevost. Gos. Univ., 1984, pp. 37–42.

29. Rosly, Yu.S., Efficiency and prospects of factory reproduction of salmon in the Amur basin, in Lososevidnye ryby (Salmonids), Leningrad: Nauka, 1984, pp. 189–191.

30. Roslyi, Yu.S., Dinamika populyatsii i vosproizvodstvo tikhookeanskikh lososei v basseine Amura (Dynamics of Populations and Reproduction of Pacific Salmon in the Amur River Basin), Khabarovsk: Khabarovskoye Knizhnoye Izd., 2002.

31. Sao Guangbing, Liu Wei, and Pan Weiji, Problems of tagging in the release of autumn chum salmon into the river during artificial breeding, in Sovremennyye problemy rybovodnykh zavodov Dal’nego Vostoka (Modern problems of fish hatcheries of the Far East: Materials of the international scientific-practical seminar, within the framework of the VII Astana scientific conference “Conservation of the biodiversity of Kamchatka and adjacent seas”), Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky: Kamchatsky Pechatny Dvor, 2006, pp. 235.

32. Khovansky, I.E., Naumova, I.G., Selyutina, V.E., and Belyansky, V.Ya., Salmon hatcheries in the area of activity of the Federal state budgetary institution “Amurrybvod”: stages of formation and prospects of artificial reproduction, in Mater. nauchn. konf., posvyashch. 70-letiyu S.M. Konovalova “Sovremennoe sostoyanie vodnyh bioresursov” (Proc. Sci. Conf. 70th anniversary of S.M. Konovalova “Current state of aquatic biological resources”), Vladivostok: TINRO-Tsentr, 2008, pp. 823–827.

33. Shuntov, V.P. and Temnykh, O.S., Tikhookeanskie lososi v morskikh i okeanicheskikh ekosistemakh (Pacific Salmon in Sea and Ocean Ecosystems), Vladivostok: TINRO-Tsentr, 2011, vol. 2.

34. Kostow, K., Factors that contribute to the ecological risks of salmon and steelhead hatchery programs and some mitigating strategies, Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries, 2009, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 9–31. doi 10.1007/s11160-008-9087-9

35. Naish, K.A., Taylor, J.E., Levin, P.S., Quinn, T.P., Winton, J.R., Huppert, D., and Hilborn, R., An Evaluation of the Effects of Conservation and Fishery Enhancement Hatcheries on Wild Populations of Salmon Advances, Adv. Mar. Biol., 2007, vol. 53, pp. 61–194. doi 10.1016/S0065- 2881(07)53002-6

36. Williams, R.N., Lichatowich, J.A., Mundy, P.R., and Powell, M., Integrating artificial production with salmonid life history, genetic, and ecosystem diversity: a landscape perspective, Portland, 2003. Fish farming in the Far East, Byul. ryb. khoz-va, 1924, no. 1, pp. 16–17.