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Salmon facts

Scientific family name: Salmonidae
Descriptive name: Salmonid
Pacific salmon species name: Oncorhynchus
Atlantic salmon species name: Salmo

Atlantic salmon are more closely related to trout than to Pacific salmon: true
Steelhead trout are more closely related to Pacific salmon than trout: true
The name for the type of evolution where one family splits apart due to environmental or behavioural factors: divergent

Number of Pacific salmon species in North America: 6
Number of Atlantic salmon species in North America: 1

Salmon species listed as threatened or endangered in the U.S.: 6
Chinook (O. tshawytscha), Coho (O. kisutch), Sockeye (O. nerka), Steelhead (O. mykiss), Chum (O. keta), Atlantic (Salmo salar)

Salmon species listed as threatened or endangered in Canada: 3
Atlantic (Salmo salar)
Sockeye (O. nerka)
Coho (O. kisutch)

Number of species dependent on Pacific salmon: 138
Percent of large Atlantic salmon returning to their native rivers: 6-11 %

Name of life cycle where the fish spends its adult life in the ocean then finds fresh water to spawn: Anadromous
Salmon almost always return to the freshwater in which they were born to spawn: true
Sense scientists theorized salmon use to return to home rivers: smell
Distance salmon can cover to reach freshwater spawning grounds: over 3,200 km
Species of salmon that spawn once then die: Chinook, Coho, Sockeye, Chum, Pink
Species of salmon that may spawn year after year: Atlantic, Steelhead
Number of Atlantic salmon returning to spawn in 70s: 900,000
Number of Atlantic salmon returning to spawn now: 100,000
The six stages of the salmon life cycle: spawning, alevin, fry, smolt, sub-adult, adult

Worldwide farmed salmon production for 2001: 1.3 million tonnes
Largest farmed salmon producers: Norway, Chile (2/3 world total)
Canadian production of farmed salmon in 2001: 95,000 tonnes
BC production of farmed salmon in 2001: 65,000
Percent of Canadian total: 65%
Percent of world total: 5%

Major worldwide farmed salmon markets: North AMerica, Europe, Japan
Largest importer of farmed salmon: U.S. at $1.2 billion (10% of all seafood imports)
Market share by value of U.S. imports of farmed salmon:
B.C. 29%
N.B. 18%
Chile 47%
Norway 4%
U.K. 2%

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