Do sea trout Salmo trutta parr surveys monitor the densities of anadromous or resident maternal origin parr, or both?

Brown trout Salmo trutta L. parr were sampled from 21 Estonian and three Finnish streams to investigate whether national sea trout parr surveys sample the progeny of anadromous or resident maternal parents. Otolith Sr:Ca core values were used and validated as a tool for distinguishing between the progeny of the two forms. In Estonia (n = 283), 92% of the parr were the progeny of anadromous maternal parents, and 8% were the progeny of resident maternal parents, whereas in Finland (n = 24), the respective proportions were 79% and 21%. Variation in the maximum otolith Sr:Ca core values among progeny of anadromous maternal parents indicated that some adult females may enter fresh waters several months before spawning. It was concluded that easily accessible locations situated up to 30 km from the sea largely contain progeny of sea trout, whereas sites with poor connectivity with the sea can be dominated by progeny of resident trout. This study demonstrated that the method applied provided an effective means to distinguish between the progeny of sea trout and resident brown trout.