Exploitation and Survival of Reared Salmon Released into the Burrishoole River System

Hatchery reared salmon smolts have been microtagged using binary coded nose tags and released into Irish rivers since 1980. These tagged fish are intercepted and identified in high seas coastal fisheries and in Irish rivers as adult salmon. The tag recovery programme provides valuable information on the marine survival and exploitation rates of these tagged fish and the return rates back to the river of origin. This leaflet summarises the results for release groups of reared indigenous salmon from the Burrishoole system in Co. Mayo. Marine survival prior to homewater exploitation has been very variable in the period examined. Although homewater marine exploitation rates have varied considerably depending on the fishing areas, they remained high for all areas combined between the years 1982 to 1989 with exploitation rates by coastal fisheries up to 87%. The greater part of the catch is taken in the Mayo area. Exploitation rates have decreased since 1989 and approximately 60% of the returning stock is estimated to have been caught in coastal fisheries in 1993. Survival to the river has also varied with an average of 2.5% of the total number of smolts released returning as adults to the river