Captive Breeding for the Restoration of Endangered Atlantic Salmon

Atlantic salmon populations across their southern range, particularly in North America, are becoming increasingly endangered. Survival at sea has diminished to the point where it has become necessary for conservation programmes to consider circumventing the ocean life history stage, at least for “representative” members of some populations. Resulting captive breeding programmes, in many ways, operate in stark contrast to conventional hatcheries and focus on minimizing domestication by exposing juveniles and adults to natural environments during their freshwater life history (i.e. in addition genetic considerations during planned matings). Here we explore the role “wild exposure” during a fish’s life history plays in reproductive performance and potentially the performance of its offspring. We report on a series of experiments undertaken both in spawning channels and in the wild to test for effects of “wild exposure” on performance and the existence of carry-over effects to the next generation.