2013 - University College Cork

RESEARCH PROJECTS
Aquaculture and Fisheries
2
ATLANTIC AQUATIC RESOURCE
CONSERVATION (AARC)
Research Centre/Department/School:
AFDC, School of Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences
Contact PI: Dr Phil McGinnity (p.mcginnity@ucc.ie);
Prof. Tom Cross (t.cross@ucc.ie)
Researchers: Dr Jamie Coughlan, Dr Jens Carlsson, Dr Eileen Dillane
Start Year: 2010 – End Year: 2012
Funding Body: ERDF INTERREG 4 Atlantic Area Programme
Funding: €255,429
Collaborating Partners: Ireland, UK, France, Spain and Portugal
Web: http://afdc.ucc.ie
Some of the most potentially productive Atlantic salmon rivers in Europe have been harnessed
for hydro-electric power generation e.g. Shannon (Ireland), Conan (Scotland), Linares (Spain). In
Ireland alone some 35% of the potential salmon producing habitat is impounded above hydroelectric
dams. In compensation, hatchery mitigation programmes were established in most of these
rivers, in order to compensate for the loss of productivity, to maintain natural runs and to preserve
biodiversity. Despite the best efforts of these hatchery programmes, many of the salmon populations
above these facilities are effectively extinct. The large hatchery programmes continue to exist
but are increasingly coming under the spotlight from cost benefit analyses and their success in
maintaining fisheries and protecting biodiversity.
Most of these mitigation schemes were developed many decades ago before much of the contemporary
information about sub-specific population genetics was developed. Thus, it would seem
timely to reassess and redirect mitigation programmes with respect to the large body of evolutionary,
population and quantitative genetic knowledge that now exists, particularly in terms of
meta-population theory, landscape genetics and new knowledge about the biology of the salmon
(effective population size etc). It might also be possible to simulate natural re-colonisation processes,
by combining ecological and evolutionary biological principles to resolve these most difficult
fisheries management problems. Specifically for the Shannon this project addresses a number of key
questions: What is the status of the hatchery strain used currently for mitigation and restoration?
Are there other more suitable genetic resources available in neighbouring wild populations? How
do the contemporary wild (feral) and hatchery maintained populations compare genetically to the
historical Shannon population(s): What is the provenance of the fish that are currently spawning
naturally in the system? Did genetically distinct populations of salmon exist prior to the establishment
of hydro-plant, and if so, is there semblance of original material still in existence?