Technoscience and the modernization of freshwater fisheries assessment and management

Inland fisheries assessment and management are challenging given the inherent com- plexity of working in diverse habitats (e.g., rivers, lakes, wetlands) that are dynamic on organisms that are often cryptic and where fishers are often highly mobile. Yet, technoscience is offering new tools that have the potential to reimagine how inland fisheries are assessed and managed. So-called ‘‘technoscience’’ refers to instances in which science and technology unfurl together, offering novel ways of spurring and achieving meaningful change. This paper considers the role of technoscience and its potential for modernizing the assessment and management of inland fisheries. It first explores technoscience and its potential benefits, followed by presentation of a series of synopses that explore the application (both successes and challenges) of new tech- nologies such as environmental DNA (eDNA), genomics, electronic tags, drones, phone apps, iEcology, and artificial intelligence to assessment and management. The paper also considers the challenges and barriers that exist in adopting new technologies. The paper concludes with a provocative assessment of the potential of technoscience to reform and modernize inland fisheries assessment and management. Although these tools are increasingly being embraced, there is a lack of platforms for aggregating these data streams and providing managers with actionable information in a timely manner. The ideas presented here should serve as a catalyst for beginning to work collectively and collaboratively towards fisheries assessment and management systems that harness the power of technology and serve to modernize inland fisheries management. Such transformation is urgently needed given the dynamic nature of environmental change, the evolving threat matrix facing inland waters, and the complex behavior of fishers. Quite simply, a dynamic world demands dynamic fisheries management; technoscience has made that within reach.publishedVersio

Exceptionally high mortality of adult female salmon: a large-scale pattern and a conservation concern

In recent decades, the relative proportion of female sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) on spawning grounds of several British Columbia populations has declined. Coincident with the decline has been large changes to oceanic, estuarine and river migration environments. Over the past 30 years, numerous telemetry tracking and laboratory studies have examined mortality of adult Fraser River sockeye salmon during ocean and freshwater migrations. We reviewed 19 studies that provided 40 situations where male and female mortality could be directly compared. Female mortality averaged 2.1 times greater than males, and up to 8-fold higher. High female mortality was also evident in migrating coho salmon (O. kisutch) and Chinook salmon (O. tshawytscha), and for sockeye salmon in other systems. Female mortality was highest when migration conditions were challenging (e.g. high / turbulent flows, high temperatures, confinement, or handling), and towards end of river migration. We review mechanisms for differential mortality, including energy exhaustion, cardiac performance, physiological stress, and immune factors. Female-specific mortality will become even more pronounced in coming years as ocean and riverine conditions continue to change.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

Transcriptome patterns and blood physiology associated with homing success of sockeye salmon during their final stage of marine migration

To better understand the mechanisms that lead to marine mortality of homing adult sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka), gill and blood biopsies were used in combination with biotelemetry to demonstrate how survival to freshwater entry is related to gene expression and physiological indices of stress. Microarray analysis of gene expression indicated multiple biological processes, including immune and stress responses, protein biosynthesis, and metabolism. Quantitative reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis indicated fish with upregulation of genes related to stress and infection had higher marine survival compared with fish without this genomic signature. We proposed that higher marine survival of potentially stressed and immune compromised fish can be explained by stressed and infected fish being highly motivated to enter fresh water, leading to enhanced marine survival. However, once in a river, stressed and immune compromised fish could suffer higher mortality because of premature river entry. Overall, this study supports the idea that infection and stress are important biological processes influencing behaviour and fate of sockeye salmon during homing migrations

Parallel decay of vision genes in subterranean water beetles

In the framework of neutral theory of molecular evolution, genes specific to the development and function of eyes in subterranean animals living in permanent darkness are expected to evolve by relaxed selection, ulti- mately becoming pseudogenes. However, definitive empirical evidence for the role of neutral processes in the loss of vision over evolutionary time remains controversial. In previous studies, we characterized an assemblage of independently-evolved water beetle (Dytiscidae) species from a subterranean archipelago in Western Australia, where parallel vision and eye loss have occurred. Using a combination of transcriptomics and exon capture, we present evidence of parallel coding sequence decay, resulting from the accumulation of frameshift mutations and premature stop codons, in eight phototransduction genes (arrestins, opsins, ninaC and transient receptor potential channel genes) in 32 subterranean species in contrast to surface species, where these genes have open reading frames. Our results provide strong evidence to support neutral evolutionary processes as a major contributing factor to the loss of phototransduction genes in subterranean animals, with the ultimate fate being the irreversible loss of a light detection system.Barbara L. Langille, Simon M. Tierney, Terry Bertozzi, Perry G. Beasley-Hall, Tessa M. Bradford, Erinn P. Fagan-Jeffries, Josephine Hyde, Remko Leijs, Matthew Richardson, Kathleen M. Saint, Danielle N. Stringer, Adrian Villastrigo, William F. Humphreys, Andrew D. Austin, Steven J.B. Coope