Supervised by:

Jean-Sébastien Moore (Regular member)

Research project description

Migratory ecology of Arctic Char (Salvelinus alpinus) in a changing Arctic: using low-cost genomic tools to understand the influence of the environment on the migration and to manage mixed-stock fisheries

IntroductionThe Arctic Char is anadromous, which means that they migrate between freshwater spawning, rearing, and overwintering habitats and marine feeding grounds. This species is an important resource for Inuit communities from both a health and an economic point of view. Hence, it is necessary to establish sustainable fisheries management plans, particularly regarding the current context of climate change. However, Arctic Char fisheries are mainly mixed-stock fisheries, which means that several different populations contribute to the fishery. Mixed-stock fisheries can be problematic if populations with low abundance and low genetic variation are inadvertently captured during the harvests of more abundant stocks. Moreover, we observe a high rate of dispersal in S. alpinus. An individual disperses when it does not home to overwinter or to mate, but it rather migrates to a non-natal habitat. These dispersion events because they contribute to mixed-stock fisheries. ObjectivesMy research objectives will be: to quantify the contribution of different populations during the harvests of mixed fisheries by using genomic tools with genetic population assignments based on 500 SNPs (Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms); to determine the influence of interannual climate variations on the dispersal and migratory patterns of Arctic Char; to identify the factors that can influence the quality of fish flesh. Study sitesThe samples were acquired over years from field campaigns conducted by various federal, provincial, and regional partners in Nunavut and Nunavik. Communities where the majority of the field campaign are conducted are mainly Cambridge Bay, Pond Inlet, Gjoa Haven,Pangnirtung, Naujaat and Iqaluit. Material and methodsThe use of genomic tools to quantify the contribution of different populations of mixed-stock fisheries is necessary to implement sustainable fisheries management plans. Full genome sequence data based on the low-coverage whole genome sequencing (lcWGS) method will be used to select 500 maximally informative SNP markers of interest. Then, we will use these 500 SNPs to quantify the intrapopulation genetic variability in order to target the less diversified populations and therefore the most at risk. These markers will also allow us to assign individuals in mixed stock fisheries to their original population and to quantify the proportion of each of the populations to mixed stocks. We will also quantify the interannual variability of the dispersion by comparing data from different years, in order to discover potential correlations with environmental variables. References

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