Petition to List Lynn Canal Pacific Herring under the Endangered ...

APPENDIX A: HERRING GENETICS
This appendix contains information reported from genetic studies performed on
Pacific Herring and Atlantic Herring. Only one study, Grant and Utter (1984), contains
specific genetic data on Lynn Canal Herring. Based on Grant and Utter (1984) and
subsequent studies in Alaska, British Columbia, Washington and the Atlantic Ocean, this
petition concludes that Lynn Canal Herring are a genetically discrete and significant
population of Pacific Herring.
Grant and Utter (1984) and O’Connell et al. (1998) showed that Pacific Herring
populations from the Bering Sea are genetically distinct and the Gulf of Alaska.
Microsatellite analysis also suggests that some genetic structuring may also exist within
the Gulf of Alaska (O’Connell et al. 1998).
Grant expanded upon Utter’s initial work, and surveyed 40 allozyme loci in
Pacific herring (Grant 1979, 1981; Grant and Utter 1984). Grant and Utter (1984)
found 26 polymorphic loci in 21 samples collected from five areas throughout the
range of Pacific herring -- Asia, the northeastern Bering Sea, the southeastern
Bering Sea, the Gulf of Alaska, and the eastern North Pacific Ocean (including
samples from the Strait of Georgia and Hale Passage in Puget Sound) (Fig. 15).
Their analyses revealed two main genetic stocks: Asian-Bering Sea herring and
eastern North Pacific herring, separated by a Nei’s genetic distance (D) (Nei
1972) of 0.039 (Fig. 16). The authors postulated that these two distinct stocks
arose because of restricted gene flow between them, due to repeated Pleistocene
glaciation on the southern coast of Alaska. Genetic differentiation was also
detected among all five areas. However, only the Bering Sea and the Gulf of
Alaska showed any significant genetic differentiation within an area. The samples
from the eastern North Pacific Ocean, which include the two Puget Sound
samples, were not genetically distinct from each other, even though the collection
sites ranged from California to southeast Alaska. The average D value between
pairs of samples within the eastern North Pacific Ocean was not significantly
different from zero. A gene diversity analysis revealed that only 0.5% of the
observed variation was due to differences among populations within an area. The
authors also reported a north to south cline in allele frequencies of the locus
GAPDH-1* for eastern North Pacific Ocean samples. The reason for this is
uncertain, but because no other loci showed a similar cline, one possible
explanation is that selection is occurring at this locus.
(Stout et al. 2001).
Several genetic studies of Alaska Pacific herring have also been conducted.
Burkey (1986) analyzed 16 samples collected from seven locations by
commercial herring fisheries within Prince William Sound, Alaska. He analyzed
14 polymorphic allozyme loci but did not find any significant differences among
samples, among locations, or between years within a location. A gene diversity
I