Seasonal variation in rod recapture rates indicates differential exploitation of Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar, stock components

Abstract  Differential exploitation of the various components of a fish stock can adversely affect the diversity, abundance and long-term survival of the entire stock. Many anadromous salmonid stocks exhibit a seasonal structuring of their run-timing that allows fisheries managers to map monthly rod catches onto stock components. To estimate the rod exploitation levels of the various run-timing groups, fishing guides on the River Spey, Scotland, floy-tagged 786 rod-caught and released Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L., between 2000 and 2002 and recorded recaptures. Whereas 25% of the fish tagged early in March were recaptured, only 2% of those tagged early in June were caught a second time. Exploitation is biased towards the early-running stock components which current assessments show to be least abundant. Management of Atlantic salmon based on an average exploitation rate is inappropriate.