Review of Resident Game Fish Life History and Abundance Information for Babine Lake
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Review of Resident Game Fish Life History and Abundance Information for Babine Lake Fish & Wildlife Branch Smithers, BC V0J 2N0 Skeena Fisheries Report #156 March 15, 2008 Table of Contents List of Figures ......................................................................................................................... iii List of Tables ............................................................................................................................ v List of Appendices .................................................................................................................. vi 1. Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Document Organization ............................................................................................. 2 2. Sources and Methods ....................................................................................................... 3 2.1. Limnology .................................................................................................................. 3 2.2. Fish Community......................................................................................................... 4 2.3. Sport Fish Relative Abundance and Life History ...................................................... 4 2.3.1. Salmon Escapement Annual Reports ................................................................. 4 2.3.2. Sockeye Production Investigations .................................................................... 5 2.3.3. Log Transportation Impacts ............................................................................. 11 2.3.4. Other Sources Of Babine Lake Fish Data ........................................................ 12 3. Context for Babine Lake Sport Fish Production ........................................................ 14 3.1. Geographic and Physical Characteristics ................................................................. 14 3.1.1. Surroundings and Human Activity .................................................................. 14 3.1.2. Morphology and Bathymetry ........................................................................... 18 3.2. Limnology ................................................................................................................ 20 3.2.1. Physical ............................................................................................................ 20 3.2.2. Chemical .......................................................................................................... 21 3.2.3. Phytoplankton and Bacterioplankton ............................................................... 22 3.2.4. Zooplankton ..................................................................................................... 22 3.2.5. Paleolimnology ................................................................................................ 23 3.2.6. Synthesis .......................................................................................................... 23 3.3. Fish Community....................................................................................................... 24 4. Kokanee .......................................................................................................................... 27 4.1. Population Structure of O. nerka ............................................................................. 27 4.2. Kokanee Ecology and Life History.......................................................................... 29 4.2.1. Spawning Geography, Timing, and Habitat Choice ........................................ 29 4.2.2. Age, Size and Sex Ratio of Kokanee ............................................................... 32 4.2.3. Kokanee Fecundity and Egg Size .................................................................... 41 4.2.4. Lake Residence ................................................................................................ 42 4.3. Kokanee Abundance ................................................................................................ 43 4.3.1. Angling Catch .................................................................................................. 43 4.3.2. Gillnet Catch .................................................................................................... 44 4.3.1. Purse Seine Catch 1966-1977 .......................................................................... 46 4.3.2. Kokanee Escapement ....................................................................................... 47 4.3.3. Hydroacoustic Surveys .................................................................................... 58 4.4. Kokanee Synthesis ................................................................................................... 59 5. Rainbow Trout ............................................................................................................... 62 5.1. Rainbow Trout Ecology and Life History ............................................................... 62 5.1.1. Spawning Geography, Timing, and Habitat Choice ........................................ 62 5.1.2. Age, Size, Sex Ratio, and Mortality ................................................................ 67 5.2. Rainbow Trout Abundance ...................................................................................... 82 i 5.2.1. Angling ............................................................................................................ 82 5.2.2. Gillnet .............................................................................................................. 84 5.2.3. Purse Seining 1966-1977 ................................................................................. 86 5.3. Rainbow Trout Synthesis ......................................................................................... 90 6. Lake Char ....................................................................................................................... 93 6.1. Lake Char Ecology and Life History ....................................................................... 93 6.1.1. Spawning Geography, Timing, and Habitat .................................................... 93 6.1.1. Age, Size, and Sexual Maturity ....................................................................... 94 6.2. Lake Char Relative Abundance ............................................................................. 100 6.2.1. Angling .......................................................................................................... 100 6.2.2. Gillnet ............................................................................................................ 101 6.2.3. Purse Seining 1966-1977 ............................................................................... 104 6.3. Lake Char Synthesis .............................................................................................. 107 7. Recommendations ........................................................................................................ 109 8. References ..................................................................................................................... 111 Appendix I. Whitefish ......................................................................................................... 120 Appendix II. Burbot............................................................................................................ 123 Appendix III. Fish Species Codes ...................................................................................... 128 Appendix IV. Kokanee and Rainbow Trout Data ........................................................... 129 ii List of Figures Figure 1. Fishing areas defined for sockeye fry purse seining on Babine Lake, 1966 to 1977. .............................................................................................................................. 9 Figure 2. Monthly temperature and precipitation at the mouth of Pinkut Creek, Babine Lake, for the years 1969 – 2000, and Topley Landing for the years 1966- 2000 .................................................................................................................................. 16 Figure 3. Percentage of kokanee spawners by age and sex, at Four Mile Creek in 1964 (upper panel) and 1965 (lower panel) ..................................................................... 36 Figure 4. Frequency of kokanee by age and sex, for Babine Lake gillnetted samples in 1958 (upper panel) and 1959 (middle panel), and Babine Lake purse seined samples in 1966 (lower panel). ........................................................................................ 37 Figure 5. Percentage of kokanee spawners by length class for males (upper panel) and females (lower panel) at Four Mile Creek in 1965 ................................................... 38 Figure 6. Fork length of nerkids captured in midwater trawls, plotted by day of the year, during the estimation program reported by Hume and MacLellan (2000) ............. 40 Figure 7. Comparison of daytime (open circles) and nighttime (filled squares) mean catch of O. nerka of age 1 and older per purse seine haul in defined fishing areas (see Figure 1) of Babine Lake during May to July, for seven calendar years between 1966 and 1977 inclusive .................................................................................... 51 Figure 8. Early season (May-July, open squares), mid season (August-September,