Salmon stock and recruitment, and stock enhancement

The precise nature of the stock and recruitment relationship in natural populations is of vital importance to any attempt at stock enhancement by removing or by‐passing a limiting factor, or at management by manipulation of spawning stock. In this paper the evidence for and against a dome‐shaped stock and recruitment curve is reviewed, and consideration given to several factors which complicate the conventional, simplistic interpretation of density‐dependent mortality. These include environmentally mediated changes in ‘carrying capacity’, distribution of spawning, and the need to consider whole river systems. The implications of these factors for fisheries management and stock enhancement are discussed.