Tracing the genetic impact of farmed turbot Scophthalmus maximus on wild populations

• Published in: Aquaculture Environment Interactions
• Main Authors: Prado, F.D., Vera, M., Hermida, M., Blanco, A., Bouza, C., Maes, G.E., Volckaert, F.A.M., AquaTrace Consortium, Martinez, P.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: Scophthalmus maximus; Northeast Atlantic; Turbot
• Online Access: https://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/326450.pdf

The impact of escapees from aquaculture is of general concern for the sustainability of natural resources. Turbot Scophthalmus maximus is a marine flatfish of great commercial value whose land-based aquaculture started approx. 40 yr ago; hence, a low impact of escapees is expected on wild populations. However, enhancement of wild stocks using farmed turbot has been carried out along the Northeast Atlantic coasts in the last decades. Recently, a broad panel of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers (755 SNPs; 1 SNP Mb -1 ) has been used to evaluate the genetic structure of turbot throughout its distribution range, constituting the baseline to evaluate the impact of farmed fish in the wild. Two distinct origins were identified for farmed turbot (F _ORI1 and F _ORI2 F ST = 0.049), which differentiated from wild populations after 5 generations of selection (average F ST = 0.059), and consistent evidence of adaptation to domestication was detected. A notable proportion of fish of farmed ancestry was detected in the wild (15.5%), mainly in the North Sea, where restocking activities have taken place, determining genetic introgression in wild populations. Conversely, effects of land-based aquaculture appear negligible. A simulation exercise supported panels of 40 and 80 SNPs to identify fishes of F _ORI1 and F _ORI2 ancestry in the wild, respectively. Application to empirical data showed an assignment success (wild/farmed ancestry) of approx. 95% in comparison with the full SNP dataset. The SNP tools will be useful to monitor turbot of farmed ancestry in the wild, which might represent a risk, considering the lower fitness of farmed individuals.