Genetics and Hatchery Management: A Parentage-based Tagging Approach to Blueback Herring Conservation

Abstract

Blueback Herring Alosa aestivalis populations throughout the East Coast have declined precipitously since the late 1980s and were listed as a Species of Concern in 2006 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Natural resource agencies are attempting to restore this species to viable and sustainable levels with fry stockings cultured in hatcheries. To evaluate the long-term contribution of stockings to populations, agencies need an accurate method to track these stocking efforts. Genetic parentage-based tagging is recognized as a feasible means of assessing hatchery contribution of stocked fish to rivers of interest. However, Blueback Herring lack a reliable set of genetic markers to conduct parentage-based tagging. To this end, we analyzed previously described microsatellites as well as new microsatellite markers identified through NextGeneration sequencing to create a suite of 14 Blueback Herring markers useful for parentage-based tagging. The markers were successful in parentage analysis for Blueback Herring collected from the Chowan River, North Carolina. An additional challenge in the management of Blueback Herring is the ability to phenotypically distinguish Blueback Herring from the closely related Alewife Alosa pseudoharengus. Furthermore, recent studies provide evidence that these two species, collectively referred to as river herring, may be hybridizing with one another in some systems. Microsatellite marker AsaC334 can be utilized to discriminate between the two species, as well as to identify their F1 hybrids, thereby providing another genetic tool for hatchery management.

A New Estimator to Correct for Bias from Tag Rate Expansion on Natural‐Origin Fish Attributes in Mixed‐Stock Analysis Using Parentage‐Based Tagging

“…Monitoring of Coho Salmon O. kisutch and Chinook Salmon in British Columbia by PBT was deemed capable of replacing the current coded wire tag program (Beacham et al 2017, 2018, 2019). Beyond Pacific salmon, PBT has been used to monitor Burbot Lota lota in the Kootenai River basin (Campbell et al 2019) and has been proposed for monitoring populations of Blueback Herring Alosa aestivalis (Evans et al 2018) and Sauger Sander canadensis (Bingham et al 2018). These examples demonstrate the widespread applicability of PBT to monitoring coexisting hatchery‐ and natural‐origin populations.…”

Grandparent inference from genetic data: The potential for parentage-based tagging programs to identify offspring of hatchery strays

“…In the past decade, there have been multiple, large-scale demonstrations of the efficacy of PBT for monitoring fisheries (Steele et al 2013, 2019; Beacham et al 2019). Numerous PBT programs have been recently reported (Evans et al 2018; Bingham et al 2018; Campbell et al 2019; Vandeputte et al 2021) and current tagging technologies can be replaced by PBT to provide additional benefits at similar or reduced costs (Beacham 2021). This implies that PBT will continue to grow in usage, and the method described here will become feasible for a larger number of hatchery programs.…”

“…Parentage-based tagging (PBT) uses this approach to identify offspring of the hatchery broodstock for monitoring and management of hatchery stocks (Anderson and Garza 2005, 2006). Parentage-based tagging has been implemented and validated on large and small scales for a variety of species (DeHaan et al 2008; Denson et al 2012; Evans et al 2018; Bingham et al 2018; Campbell et al 2019; Vandeputte et al 2021), most notably Pacific salmonids (Steele et al 2013, 2019; Beacham et al 2019).…”

A Review of River Herring Science in Support of Species Conservation and Ecosystem Restoration

“…Genetic parentage‐based tagging is being evaluated as a means of assessing hatchery contribution to river herring populations (Evans et al. 2017). This method will allow detection of hatchery fish but will not prevent the subsequent introgression of hatchery fish with wild fish.…”