2013 - University College Cork

RESEARCH PROJECTS
Aquaculture and Fisheries
6
CELTIC SEA TROUT PROJECT: GENETIC STOCK
IDENTIFICATION OF SEA TROUT IN THE IRISH SEA
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: 2009 – End Year: 2012
Funding Body: ERDF INTERREG Funding Programme
Funding: €359,830
Collaborating Partners: Inland Fisheries Ireland,
Bangor University, Environment Agency
Web: http://afdc.ucc.ie. www.celticseatrout.com
Sea trout and particularly their behaviour at sea, are not well understood. There are several issues of
interest; the distribution and ecology of sea trout at sea, their fate in marine and estuarine mixedstock
fisheries and their response with respect of biodiversity and life history to environmental
pressures, particularly climate change. Genetic stock identification offers a very elegant solution
for acquiring information on the composition of mixed ocean and estuarine samples; enabling the
contribution of individual river systems to be evaluated and the potential to address the questions
posed above. There is no other way of acquiring such information since tagging of large numbers
of wild juveniles is impractical and greatly increases mortality. Preliminary results from the genetic
analysis suggest remarkably strong population structuring among rivers and regions, with patterns
that appear to reflect the post-glacial history of the Irish Sea associated with the retreat of the icesheet.
In addition, the assignment of trout captured at sea to their rivers of origin, further suggest
complex patterns of behaviour and the Irish Sea as single, integrated and complicated ecosystem.