Transfer of: Using Genomics to Improve Stock Structure Resolution and Assess Recruitment Dynamics of Lake Whitefish in Lake Michigan

Grant: # 1916

Grant Amount: $118,751.99

Board Decision Year: 2018

University of Alaska Fairbanks - College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences (Juneau)

College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences

McPhee, Megan ([email protected]) 907-796-5464

2018 Ecosystem Health and Sustainable Fish Populations: Ecological and Biological Research to Inform Management - Ecological and biological fisheries research to inform management

Project Details

Lake whitefish in Lake Michigan have experienced substantial fluctuations in recruitment and abundance over the last decade and much of this variation appears to be asynchronous across stocks. Analysis of genetic data provides a powerful toolset for stock identification that could facilitate investigation of recruitment dynamics and stock-specific harvest. However, currently available markers are expensive to run and cannot accurately delineate stocks. We used genomic techniques to improve resolution of population structure in whitefish while providing the basis for a more cost efficient genotyping tool. We first used RAD sequencing to investigate spatial structure with tens of thousands of genetic markers, identifying those with the most statistical power to differentiate the whitefish stocks. Next, we designed a GT-seq panel to target only those informative markers to most efficiently enable genetic stock identification of Lake Michigan’s lake whitefish. This work resulted in a GT-seq panel of 295 markers, which was able to identify finer-scale population structure than what was apparent from previous genetic studies, allowing for better implementation of stock-specific fishery management in Lake Michigan.

The final report for this project is available at this link.