Estimation of Conservation Unit and population contribution to Chinook salmon mixed-stock fisheries in British Columbia, Canada using direct DNA sequencing for single nucleotide polymorphisms

Determination of population structure and stock identification is a general problem in fisheries assessment and management. Pacific salmon fishery management regimes are evolving to require higher resolution of stock composition on increasingly smaller reporting units. For Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), a stock identification baseline comprised of some 125,198 individuals from 369 populations ranging from Russia to California was employed for genetic stock identification (GSI). GSI analysis based upon variation at up to 547 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) was demonstrated to provide accurate estimates of stock composition for 68 Conservation Units (CUs) in British Columbia, 23 reporting groups in the United States, and one reporting group in Russia. In many instances, accurate population-specific estimates of stock composition within a CU were possible in fishery samples, as well as identifying individuals to some specific populations. A genetics-based assessment system provides an opportunity for conservation-based management of Canadian Chinook salmon.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author