Fraser River Aboriginal Fisheries Secretariat

- A -

Adipose Clip:
The adipose fin is the small fleshy nub of a fin which is common to all salmon that is situated between the dorsal (the fin on the fish's back) and the caudal (tail) fin. The term adipose clipped refers to a missing adipose fin, which indicates the fish was produced in a hatchery and contains a coded-wire-tags.

Albion Test Fishery:
A chinook gill net test fishery that has been in operation annually since 1981.

Alevin:
A stage of embryonic development of salmon or related fish referring to fish recently hatched from the egg and before absorption of the yolk sac and emergence from the spawning gravel.

Anadramous Salmon:
Refers to fish in the family salmonidae, which grow to adult size in the ocean and migrate into fresh water to spawn. Trout (such as rainbow and cut-throat) and Char (Dolly Varden, bull trout) and whitefish are in the same family as pacific salmon, but stay in fresh water their entire life. Steelhead are rainbow trout that behave as pacific salmon.

Antecedent Year:
The year when the fish were spawned.

- B -

By-catch:
Refers to a catch on a non-target species of fish during fisheries directed at other species. A good example of by-catch is the steelhead captured during fisheries for chum and sockeye salmon. Since these 3 species have overlapping migration timings, it is difficult to harvest one without taking some of the other.

- C -

Catch ceiling:
A specified limit placed upon the harvest of any particular species of stock of fish, in other terms a quota.

CPUE:
Catch per unit effort. A common method fisheries biologists use to compare the relative abundance of fish between one area of habitat and another where the only common link is the method you used to catch the fish. Catch per unit effort can be applied to a number situations, including the number fish captured divided by the amount of time it took to catch the fish (fish per hour), or by the number of seine sets made to catch fish (fish per seine set), or even the number of fish captured per square meter of net over a specific time period (fish per meter per hour).

Crustaceans:
Large class of animals, mostly aquatic, with hard shells such as crabs, lobsters, shrimps. Includes many microscopic organisms.

Cyclic Dominance:
The basic idea that within a cycle there will be predictable movement, and predictable change.

CWT:
Coded Wire Tag. Small thin wire pins about 2 mm long placed in the nose of hatchery raised Chinook juveniles. Each tag provides reference to where the Chinook was raised, the year it was released, how it was grown and other biological information.

- D -

DFO (Department of Fisheries and Oceans):
Canada's federal agency which oversees all aspects of management of anadramous species of salmon except for Steelhead. Steelhead and non-anadramous species of salmon (Steelhead, trout, char etc.) are under the jurisdiction of provincial government agencies, such as the Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks (MELP).

- E -

Emergence:
When larval Chinook (also called alevin) leave the gravel they hatched in to become fry.

Escapement:
Fish that avoid or escape all fisheries and return to spawn at their home stream

Estuary:
A mouth of a river where its fresh water meets salt water and is influenced by the tides

Exploited/Exploitation:
Another term for fishing.

- F -

Fishway:
An arrangement of successive pools enabling a fish to ascend falls or a dam

Freshets:
A sudden, rapid increase in water levels in a stream, caused by heavy rains and/or melting snow. Freshets are usually associated with spring-time conditions, although it in coastal areas, they may also occur in the fall.

Fry:
The young stage of fishes, particularly after the yolk sac has been absorbed.

- H -

Habitat:
The native environment of animal or plant; the kind of place that is natural for the life and growth of an animal or plant; e.g. a tropical habitat.

- I -

IPSFC:
International Pacific Salmon Commission Fisheries Commission. A joint US-Canada Commission that was responsible for the management of Fraser River sockeye and pink salmon prior to the signing of the Pacific Salmon Treaty in 1985.

- J -

Jacks:
Male salmon that return to the spawning grounds prior to reaching maturity.

- M -

Migration Timings:
When sockeye enter the Fraser River.
Migration-abundance Curve
Definition for migration-abundance curve

Milt:
The sperm cells of male fish with the fluid containing them. During spawning, the male releases milt as the female deposits her eggs.

- N -

Natal streams:
The stream in which a fish was born, where it returns to spawn.

- P -

Pacific Salmon Commission:
the body formed by the governments of Canada and the United States to implement the Pacific Salmon Treaty. It is a sixteen-person body with four Commissioners and four alternates each from the United States and Canada, representing the interests of commercial and recreational fisheries as well as federal, state and tribal governments.

Pacific Salmon Treaty:
Document signed by Canada and the US that identifies long-term goals for the benefit of the salmon and the two countries.

Preseason forecasts:
An annual "best guess" at the expected size of returns of sockeye salmon, released by the Pacific Salmon Commission.

- R -

Rear:
Another term for grow.

Redd:
The depression in which salmon deposit their eggs

Run:
A group of animals/fish born and reared together and, in the case of salmon, that return to the same stream to spawn.

- S -

Smolt:
A juvenile, silvery salmon up to 15cm long, which has lost its parr marks and has attained the silverly coloration of the adult. This coloration signifies the readiness of the young fish to migrate to the seas and its ability to adapt to the water environment.

Spawn:
To lay and fertilize eggs.

Smolts:
Juvenile salmon which after they have hatched from the gravel, have reared in freshwater for one year or more, and then migrate downstream. There are Chinook, coho and sockeye smolts.

Spawning Escapement:
Escapement refers to salmon which have escaped all fisheries, and survived to return to the stream in which they were born, and successfully spawn.

Stock Complexes:
Stock complexes refer to a group of individual sockeye stocks which have similar migration timings

Stocks:
A distinct group or run of salmon that return to the stream in which they are born. Salmon stocks exist for every species of salmon. Just as sockeye salmon are different from Chinook salmon, individual stocks of sockeye salmon are different from each other, possibly on the basis of genetics

- T -

Test Fishery:
A special fishery which is used to estimate the strength of returning salmon stocks.

Timing Abundance Curves:
Definition for Timing Abundance Curves.