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Growth-history perspective on the decreasing age and size at maturation of exploited Atlantic salmon

2008; Inter-Research; Volume: 376; Linguagem: Inglês

10.3354/meps07789

1616-1599

Anna Kuparinen, Carlos García de Leániz, Sofía Consuegra, Juha Merilä,

Aquaculture Nutrition and Growth

MEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 376:245-252 (2009) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps07789 Growth-history perspective on the decreasing age and size at maturation of exploited Atlantic salmon Anna Kuparinen1,2,*, Carlos Garcia de Leaniz3, Sofia Consuegra4, Juha Merilä1 1Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, PO Box 65, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland 2Department of Mathematics and Statistics, PO Box 68, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland 3Department of Biological Sciences, Swansea University, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK 4Institute of Biological, Environmental & Rural Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth SY23 3DA, UK *Email: anna.kuparinen@helsinki.fi ABSTRACT: Decreases in age and size at maturation have been reported for several exploited fish populations, but little is known about possible changes in individual growth trajectories in the course of exploitation. We investigated changes in growth, age and size at maturation in a declining Atlantic salmon Salmo salar population subjected to strong fishing pressure. Based on historical catch records and scale samples collected between years 1948 and 2003, we estimated age and size at maturation and back-calculated individual growth trajectories. The age of the returning salmon declined, smolt size increased and post-smolt growth decreased during the study period. Reductions in age at maturation and shifts in growth trajectories occurred in parallel, suggesting that they were not independent of each other. Although our results cannot distinguish between plastic and genetic effects of exploitation on size and age at maturation, they support the contention that analyses of individual growth trajectories can provide important clues for understanding causes of life-history changes in exploited fish populations. KEY WORDS: Atlantic salmon · Salmo salar L. · Body size · Growth · Fisheries-induced evolution · Maturation · Length at age Full text in pdf format PreviousNextCite this article as: Kuparinen A, Garcia de Leaniz C, Consuegra S, Merilä J (2009) Growth-history perspective on the decreasing age and size at maturation of exploited Atlantic salmon. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 376:245-252. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps07789 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 376. Online publication date: February 11, 2009 Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599 Copyright © 2009 Inter-Research.