Historical translocations and stocking alter the genetic structure of a Mediterranean lobster fishery

This is the final version. Available on open access from Wiley via the DOI in this record Stocking is often used to supplement wild populations that are overexploited or have collapsed, yet it is unclear how this affects the genetic diversity of marine invertebrate populations. During the 1970s, a l...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ecology and Evolution
Main Authors: Jenkins, TL, Ellis, CD, Durieux, EDH, Filippi, JJ, Bracconi, J, Stevens, JR
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wiley / European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB) / Society for the Study of Evolution (SSE) 2020
Subjects:
assignment
fisheries
genetic structure
hatchery
lobster
Mediterranean
single nucleotide polymorphisms
SNP panel
stocking
translocation
European lobster
Homarus gammarus
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10871/124309
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.6304
Description
Summary:This is the final version. Available on open access from Wiley via the DOI in this record Stocking is often used to supplement wild populations that are overexploited or have collapsed, yet it is unclear how this affects the genetic diversity of marine invertebrate populations. During the 1970s, a lobster stock enhancement program was carried out around the island of Corsica in the Mediterranean using individuals translocated from the Atlantic coast of France. This included the release of thousands of hatchery-reared postlarval lobsters and several adult individuals, but no monitoring plan was established to assess whether these animals survived and recruited to the population. In this study, we sampled European lobster (Homarus gammarus) individuals caught around Corsica and tested whether they showed Atlantic ancestry. Due to a natural marked phylogeographic break between Atlantic and Mediterranean lobsters, we hypothesized that lobsters with dominant (>0.50) Atlantic ancestry were descended from historical stocking releases. Twenty Corsican lobsters were genotyped at 79 single nucleotide polymorphisms, and assignment analysis showed that the majority (13) had dominant Atlantic ancestry. This suggests that the hatchery stocking program carried out in Corsica during the 1970s, using individuals translocated from the Atlantic coast of France, has likely augmented local recruitment but at a cost of altering the genetic structure of the Corsican lobster population. EU Agri‐tech Cornwall Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)

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