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[colin6101]

Caught a few nice hatchery coho on the Stave the other day and noticed when I got home that one of them had a pectoral fin clipped off. Couldn't find any info on GofishBC about this on their stocking reports. Any ideas why it would have both the adipose and pectoral clipped? I know they do this sometimes when stocking lakes for specific research purposes but haven't seen it with salmon before.

[Rodney]

GoFishBC/FFSBC isn't responsible for the hatchery coho salmon program, that's federal. There was a notice on different clips of Stave River hatchery coho salmon several years ago but I don't remember what it was about, will have to dig it up from the website when I have the time.

[colin6101]

Thanks Rod, that makes sense they aren't responsible for it. I saw Steelhead/Cutthroat stockings but nothing on the salmon. I can't find any information from the federal sites I know of and  I'm assuming these stockings come from the Inch creek hatchery which also doesn't have a very robust website.

[canso]

Same, I’ve had 2 with left pec. clip. The first one I questioned,  but now I’m sure it means something, but I can’t find anything.

[Hike_and_fish]

I can certain that any fins clipped results in smaller fish. Is this because they are simply hand fed at birth and don't learn the ability to hunt for a while ? Or is the adipose fin help for sleuthing reasons. I dont know a lot about this im hoping Ralph can step in here.

Why not a max clip only ? If the adipose fin help ? I dont know.

[psd1179]

I can certain that any fins clipped results in smaller fish. Is this because they are simply hand fed at birth and don't learn the ability to hunt for a while ? Or is the adipose fin help for sleuthing reasons. I dont know a lot about this im hoping Ralph can step in here.

Why not a max clip only ? If the adipose fin help ? I dont know.

clip fin results in smaller fish does not make sense.

[firstlight]

I can certain that any fins clipped results in smaller fish. Is this because they are simply hand fed at birth and don't learn the ability to hunt for a while ? Or is the adipose fin help for sleuthing reasons. I dont know a lot about this im hoping Ralph can step in here.

Why not a max clip only ? If the adipose fin help ? I dont know.

They are smaller because they can only turn to the right.

[bkk]

Worked in the DFO hatchery system for many a year and I would be surprised if it was a pectoral fin clip. What it most likely is that when the fish are in the Cap troughs or Intermediate rearing containers, a very small percentage of the fish get fin erosion and it's often the left and right pectorals. My guess is that when the adipose fin clipping was done, one of the clippers just missed that fish. Normally these fish are just graded out and not marked and released. This fin clip has been used in the past and it was shown to significantly reduce survival so it is generally not in use. You just caught a fish that beat the odds.

[RalphH]

They are smaller because they can only turn to the right.

Those fish were raised in Arizona!

[leadbelly]

in 2018 I caught a hatch coho in the stave with a pec fin missing but the photo shows a fairly raw wound but the similar one this year had a healed spot where the fin was missing. Ive also caught nearby coho with a v cut into the gill plate. trying to find the photos but nothing yet.

[wildmanyeah]

Caught a hatchery coho at sandheads today that had a missing pectoral fin.

[Every Day]

Pectoral fin clips are rarely, or never used. I'm not aware of any hatcheries clipping pec fins in the last decade. If a major fin is to be clipped, it's almost always a pelvic fin.

BKK has similar experiences to myself. After having worked in hatcheries for the last 10 years, pectoral fin wear is common on hatchery fish, especially in circular containers. You'll often see dorsal wear as well. More and more hatcheries have been switching to circles, so this could become more common. Pectoral fin wear will also become more common if tanks are stocked with higher densities (ex hatcheries are asked to take on more fish), or if they have starve days (normally to control size if they are becoming too large too quickly, or before movements occur).

I can certain that any fins clipped results in smaller fish. Is this because they are simply hand fed at birth and don't learn the ability to hunt for a while ? Or is the adipose fin help for sleuthing reasons. I dont know a lot about this im hoping Ralph can step in here.

Why not a max clip only ? If the adipose fin help ? I dont know.

Max clips are also not used often due to being unreliable. They often mimic angler injuries where a max is ripped off. They can also grow back fairly easily if a part of it is missed, and they are pretty time consuming to do (and carry high risk of eye injury if you have inexperienced clippers). They also impact how fish are able to eat. Despite their issues, these are still used in some places, but less commonly now.

[leadbelly]

 got a hatch coho today with no pectoral fins, same river as Ive gotten that in the past. weird

[VAGAbond]

 I once saw a coho held alongside a boat for only a short time during which time a group of dogfish arrived and in a couple of seconds clipped off all the fins.   It is possible a coho lost a fin to a dogfish during a catch and release event.