Population structure of bycaught harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) in Norway

The preference for coastal habitats makes the harbour porpoise, Phocoena phocoena, vulnerable to fisheries conflicts and hence prone to die due to entangling in fishing nets. An opportunistic sampling of such casualties (134 individuals) in Norwegian waters was used to assess the genetic population...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Marine Biology Research
Main Authors: Sanchez, Maria Quintela, Besnier, Francois, Seliussen, Bjørghild Breistein, Glover, Kevin, Lindstrøm, Ulf
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Taylor and Francis Group 2020
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Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10037/31144
https://doi.org/10.1080/17451000.2020.1729992
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Summary:The preference for coastal habitats makes the harbour porpoise, Phocoena phocoena, vulnerable to fisheries conflicts and hence prone to die due to entangling in fishing nets. An opportunistic sampling of such casualties (134 individuals) in Norwegian waters was used to assess the genetic population structure of the species by SNP-genotyping at 78 loci. The results of genetic clustering obtained for these individuals failed to identify more than one genetic group. Likewise, the individually-based F did not meet an Isolation-by-Distance pattern, thus supporting the conclusion that harbour porpoise in Norway probably belongs to a single genetic group or population.