Sockeye salmon depletion in energy stores. Fat, protein, and somatic energy stores decrease from the final moments in marine migration through freshwater entry, spawning, and death. Sockeye salmon do not feed during reproduction. Feeding ends once they enter into freshwater, which can be several months before spawning. Embryos are maintained with only endogenous food supplies for about 3–8 months. Reproduction in the sockeye salmon has to be accomplished with the energy stores brought to the spawning grounds. How the salmon use their energy during migration and spawning affects how successful they will be reproductively; energy used for migration cannot also be used
Environmental issues with salmon 59 years of catch and escapement data of Bristol Bay sockeye to determine age and size at maturity trends attributable to the selectivity of commercial gillnet harvests. The study found that the larger females (>550 mm) of all age classes were most susceptible to harvest. The study suggests that smaller, younger fish were more likely to successfully traverse the gillnet fishery and reproduce than the larger fish. The study also found that the average length of sockeye harvested from 1946–2005 was 8 mm larger than the sockeye who escaped the gillnet fishery to spawn, reducing the fecundity of the average