Journal
EVOLUTIONARY APPLICATIONS
Volume 14, Issue 5, Pages 1403-1420Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/eva.13209
Keywords
genetic stock identification; fisheries management; Great Lakes; Portfolio theory; RAD‐ capture; RAD‐ seq; stock discrimination
Categories
Funding
- Ohio Sea Grant College Program, The Ohio State University [NA14OAR4170067, GRT00033622]
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Genetic marker-based mixed-stock analyses have been useful in fisheries management for populations with strong genetic differentiation, but genomic sequencing can now provide the necessary resolution to conduct mixed-stock assignments for populations with weak differentiation. This study used genomic data to analyze the walleye fisheries in Lake Erie, revealing clear spatial differences in stock contributions and demonstrating the utility of genomic data for mixed-stock analysis in fish populations with weak population structure.
Mixed-stock analyses using genetic markers have informed fisheries management in cases where strong genetic differentiation occurs among local spawning populations, yet many fisheries are supported by multiple, weakly differentiated stocks. Freshwater fisheries exemplify this problem, with many populations supported by multiple stocks of young evolutionary age and isolated across small spatial scales. Consequently, attempts to conduct genetic mixed-stock analyses of inland fisheries have often been unsuccessful. Advances in genomic sequencing offer the ability to discriminate among populations with weak population structure, providing the necessary resolution to conduct mixed-stock assignment among previously indistinguishable stocks. We used genomic data to conduct a mixed-stock analysis of eastern Lake Erie's commercial and recreational walleye (Sander vitreus) fisheries and estimate the relative harvest of weakly differentiated stocks (pairwise F-ST < 0.01). Using RAD-capture (Rapture), we sequenced and genotyped individuals from western and eastern basin local spawning stocks at 12,081 loci with 95% reassignment accuracy, which was not possible in the past using microsatellite markers. A baseline assessment of 395 walleye from 11 spawning stocks identified three reporting groups and refined previous assessments of gene flow among walleye stocks. Genetic assignment of 1,075 walleye harvested in eastern Lake Erie's recreational and commercial fisheries indicated that western basin stocks constituted the majority of harvest during the peak walleye fishing season (July-September), whereas eastern basin individuals comprised much of the early season harvest (May-June). Clear spatial structure in harvest composition existed; catches in more easterly sites contained more individuals of eastern basin origin than did more westerly sites. Our study provides important stock contribution estimates for Lake Erie fishery management and demonstrates the utility of genomic data to facilitate mixed-stock analysis in exploited fish populations having weak population structure or limited existing genetic resources.
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