Application of microsatellite DNA variation to estimation of stock composition and escapement of Nass River sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka)

Abstract

Spawning escapements of individual Pacific salmon stocks returning to remote spawning locations throughout large river systems can in theory be estimated by mixed-stock analysis of appropriately weighted samples from test fisheries near the river mouth. However, the feasibility of this approach has usually been limited by practical difficulties in identifying closely related populations within the same watershed. Microsatellite DNA techniques offer new promise for overcoming these limitations as illustrated for sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) in the Nass River of northern British Columbia. Variation at six microsatellite DNA loci (Omy77, Ots3, Ots100, Ots103, Ots107, and Ots108) was surveyed from about 1400 fish from nine stocks in the Nass River drainage as well as from 249 fish in a test fishery conducted in the lower river during 1996. Five stocks were surveyed in more than one year, and variation in allele frequencies among stocks was, on average, about 10 times greater than annual variation within stocks. Allele frequencies of stocks where the juveniles do not rear in lakes ("riverine" or "sea type") were more similar to each other compared with frequencies from lake-rearing stocks. Significant differences in allele frequencies were observed among most stocks at all loci. About 4.5% of observed variation over all loci was attributable to stock differentiation. Simulated mixed-stock samples suggested that the six microsatellite DNA loci surveyed should provide the ability to provide relatively accurate and precise estimates of stock composition when utilized for fishery management applications. The estimated proportion of Meziadin Lake sockeye salmon in the 1996 test fishery was about 73%, in close agreement with an estimate derived from direct tagging of fish in the test fishery.