Genetics For Fish Hatchery Managers

This straightforward, easily understandable primer details the principles and practices of genetics as they relate to fish farming. After reviewing basic genetic principles and the genetics of sex determination, this book focuses on the genetics of qualitative traits and profiles selection programs that produce true breeding populations. It also considers quantitative issues, broodstock management, genetic engineering, chromosomal manipulation and electrophoresis.

This manual is a primer for fishery and hatchery managers. It is also oriented to fisheries decision-makers who would like to gain a basic understanding of the role of genetics in addressing problems and opportunities in their work but do not intend to become practicing fish geneticists. This manual is relevant for hatcheries used in fishery stocking programs and captive aquaculture, while focusing on the former application. The manual includes three major topics: 1) biological principles underlying the genetics of fish, 2) genetic tools and their application to fish populations, and 3) genetic issues in fisheries management.

The genetic improvement of fish for aquaculture and related fisheries has seen huge advances over recent years. Building upon the previous two editions of Aquaculture and Fisheries Biotechnology: Genetic Approaches, this 3rd edition offers a presentation of traditional selective breeding, modern genetic biotechnology, genomics, gene transfer and gene editing, and the latest developments in genetic biotechnology such as epigenetics, xenogenesis and genome-wide association study coupled with commercial application, the impact of government regulation and expectations for the future. It provides a firm grounding in relevant aspects of classical genetics, before focusing on particular aspects such as sex reversal and breeding as applied in aquaculture and fisheries. It also explores how more recent molecular genetics, genomics and biotechnology techniques can be used and combined in improvement programmes for fish and aquaculture species. A glossary explains the latest terminology used in biotechnology and genetics. This book will be useful for research scientists and students in marine biotechnology, aquaculture biotechnology, and fish genetics and breeding.

Since the first publication of "Population Genetics and Fishery Management" in 1987, significant technological, analytical, and conceptual changes have occurred. By explaining basic population genetics in a fisheries context, the text continues to serve as an excellent starting point for approaching complex recent developments.

The basic principle of all molecular genetic methods is to employ inherited, discrete and stable markers to identify genotypes that characterize individuals, populations or species. Such genetic data can provide information ori the levels and distribution of genetic variability in relation to mating patterns, life history, population size, migration and environment. Although molecular tools have long been employed to address various questions in fisheries biology and management, their contributions to the field are sometimes unclear, and often controversial. Much of the initial impetus for the deployment of molecular markers arose from the desire to assess fish stock structure based on various interpretations of the stock concept. Although such studies have met with varying success, they continue to provide an impetus for the development of increasingly sensitive population discriminators, yielding information that can be valuable for both sustainable exploitation and the conservation of fish populations. In the last major synthesis of the subject, Ryman and Utter (1987) summarized progress and applications, though this was prior to the wide-scale adoption of DNA methodology. New sources of genetic markers and protocols are now available, in particular those that exploit the widely distributed and highly variable repeat sequences of DNA, and the amplification technique of the polymerase chain reaction.

A manual dealing primarily with the problems caused by unwanted inbreeding in cultured fish populations, describing management techniques for preventing or minimising inbreeding, and also how inbreeding can be used to improve captive populations of fish