SWIMMING PERFORMANCE OF VARIOUS FRESH-WATER NEWFOUNDLAND SALMONIDS RELATIVE TO HABITAT SELECTION AND FISHWAY DESIGN

Swimming ability of wild brook trout Salvelinus fontinalis, brown trou t Salmo trutta, anadromous Atlantic salmon Salmo salar, and landlocked Atlantic salmon was examined using hued and increasing velocity tests . Although brook trout and salmon parr were collected from the same si te, brook trout were found generally in slow-moving pools whereas salm on were more common in faster rime areas. Salmon parr could hold stati on indefinitely in currents in which brook trout could only maintain t hemselves briefly. Therefore, selection of fast-water areas by salmon parr may impose a velocity barrier to sympatric juvenile brook trout, reducing competition between the species. Performance comparisons also indicate that anadromous Atlantic salmon possess slightly greater sus tained ability than landlocked salmon, possibly due to altered selecti ve pressure associated with their different life histories. Finally, f ishways and culverts in Newfoundland can now be designed using models generated from performance data collected from native salmonid species . (C) 1997 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles.