Sockeye Salmon Migration in Babine River and Lake as Indicated By Tagging at Babine fence in 1946

A second objective in tagging sockeye salmon as they passed through the Babine fence into Nilkitkwa and Babine Lakes was to procure information on the quality and speed of migration through the lakes to the spawning tributaries and to determine whether there was any segregation of populations in point of time of arrival and movement. As noted in another manuscript - "The Use of a Tagging Ratio to Estimate Escapement - Babine Fence, 1946" - it was possible to tag a constant proportion of the migrants as they passed the weir (in this case ca. 2%). Tagging began on July 17 by which date 8,337 sockeye had been counted. Since the desired proportion was to be 1 in 50, heavier tagging was carried out for the first few days to balance. Thereafter the practice was to tag 1/50 of the total run on the day immediately subsequent to the count in question. Tagging thus lagged one day behind the run but provided a means of knowing each day exactly how many fish were to be tagged.