Project Information

Title: SEA: Genetics of Pink Salmon Inhabiting PWS 94320-D

Project Year and Number: 1994: 94320-D

Other Fiscal Years and Numbers for this Project: None

Principal Investigator (PI): Jim Seeb (Alaska Department of Fish & Game)

Managing Agency: ADFG

Assisting Personnel: Chris Habicht, Lisa Seeb

Research Location: Prince William Sound

Restoration Category: General Restoration

Injured Resources Addressed: Pink Salmon

Abstract: This project is a component of the Sound Ecosystem Assessment (SEA) program, a multi-disciplinary effort to acquire an ecosystem level understanding of the marine and freshwater processes that interact to constrain levels of fish, marine bird, and marine mammal production in Prince William Sound (PWS). Pink salmon are an important food source for fish, birds, and mammals, and provide a pathway for the transfer of nutrients accumulated from high seas marine areas to near shore and terrestrial ecosystems. Pink salmon are vital to the economy of PWS communities. Evidence indicating that the EVOS was partially responsible for weak pink salmon return to PWS is growing. PWS pink salmon embryos incubating in oiled areas have shown significantly higher mortalities than those incubating in unoiled areas, which may be indicative of heritable genetic damage. This component of the SEA program is designed to define the genetic structure of populations of wild pink salmon inhabiting PWS. Understanding genetic structure of the wild stocks inhabiting PWS is critical to their management and conservation, and information will be used to guide restoration and fisheries management decisions. Both allozyme analysis and DNA analysis of pink salmon will be used to discriminate populations and describe population structure. Analysis results will be compared with pre-EVOS pink salmon genetic data to analyze potential changes of population structure and gene flow.


Proposal: Not Available

Reports:
Annual Report FY94: View (7,459 KB)
Final Report: Not available. For current status, please contact us.

Publications from this Project: None Available