RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Genetic stock identification reveals greater use of an oceanic feeding ground around the Faroe Islands by multi-sea winter Atlantic salmon
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2022.07.04.498682
DO 10.1101/2022.07.04.498682
A1 Ronan James O’Sullivan
A1 Mikhail Ozerov
A1 Geir H. Bolstad
A1 John Gilbey
A1 Jan Arge Jacobsen
A1 Jaakko Erkinaro
A1 Audun H. Rikardsen
A1 Kjetil Hindar
A1 Tutku Aykanat
YR 2022
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/07/04/2022.07.04.498682.abstract
AB There is a general paucity of knowledge regards spatial variation in marine resource use for many taxa, even those of high socio-economic importance such as Atlantic salmon. While it is known that the oceans around the Faroe Islands support a salmon feeding ground, the relative use of this feeding ground by different age classes across different stocks remains largely unexplored. Using a combination of genetic stock assignment and run-reconstruction models, we observed a consistent pattern whereby the proportion of multi-sea winter (MSW) salmon for a given reporting group was substantially greater around the Faroes than the MSW proportion for that reporting groups among the prefisheries abundance. Surprisingly, MSW fish from Ireland and UK were as likely to occur around the Faroes as were MSW fish from more north-eastern regions such as the Teno river and the Barents and White Seas. MSW fish from Southern Norway were the most likely to be caught at the Faroes. While 1SW salmon from Ireland and UK as well as from Southern Norway occurred at similar rates around the Faroes, 1SW fish from more north-eastern reporting groups were nearly entirely absent from the same feeding ground. In combination with previous studies that examine the marine distribution of Atlantic salmon, our results strongly indicate that the oceans around the Faroes play host to a predominantly MSW salmon feeding ground and that use of this resource varies both within the age classes of a given stock as well as between different stocks. Furthermore, these results suggest that MSW fish from certain stocks might preferentially undertake migrations to the Faroes. Variation in spatial resource use may help to buffer salmon stocks against localised negative changes in marine conditions.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.