Genetic study in Finaland finds early summer fishing can have an evolutionary impact, resulting in smaller salmon

Published 2024년 5월 8일

Tridge summary

A study led by the University of Helsinki has found that fishing for Atlantic salmon in the early part of the spawning season targets fish carrying a "large salmon genetic variant," which guides the fish to grow large and mature slowly. This selective fishing could lead to a rarer occurrence of this variant and younger, smaller salmon, potentially harming the diversity and viability of salmon populations. The research, published in Evolutionary Applications, suggests that the timing of fishing could have evolutionary impacts on wild fish, and highlights the need for fisheries management to take into account the targeting of salmon from upstream areas in the early season. The study was conducted in collaboration with several universities and institutes, and used samples collected between 1928 and 2020 from the northern Baltic Sea and its rivers.

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Original content

Atlantic salmon are caught by fisheries when the fish are migrating to spawn. A new study led by the University of Helsinki explored how salmon caught at different times during their spawning migration differ from each other genetically. The study on wild salmon in the northern Baltic Sea revealed that especially in the early part of the fishing season, fishing strongly targets salmon carrying a "large salmon genetic variant." The variant guides Atlantic salmon to grow large and to mature at an older age, which is an important trait for the fishing and viability of salmon stocks.The findings are published in the journal Evolutionary Applications.Genetic analyses on thousands of wild salmon caught between 1928 and 2020 by fisheries from the northern Baltic Sea region showed that regardless of the year, fishers caught salmon with the "large salmon variant" more often in the early than late fishing season."This finding suggests that the timing of fishing may cause evolutionary ...

Source: Phys