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Stock structure of Trachurus picturatus from the NE Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea using microsatellite DNA markers

Cláudia Moreira1, 2, Pablo Presa3, Alberto T. Correia2, 4, Paulo Vaz-Pires1, 2 and Elsa Froufe2*
  • 1 Abel Salazar Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of Porto, Portugal
  • 2 Interdisciplinary Center for Marine and Environmental Research, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Portugal
  • 3 University of Vigo, Fac. Biología, ReXenMar Laboratory-ECIMAT, Spain
  • 4 Faculdade de Ciências da Saúde da Universidade Fernando Pessoa, Portugal

The blue jack mackerel Trachurus picturatus is a commercially important species in the Macaronesia region, however, its population structure and connectivity patterns remain controversial. Even though the stock status of this species across the North-east Atlantic is unclear, precautionary actions to preserve this fishery are recommendable (FAO 2018; ICES 2018). This is especially significant because landings of the T. picturatus in Madeira have suffered a drammatic decrease in the last years, i.e. from 617 t to 263 t (INE 2018). Landing fluctuations are usually associated with changes in fishing efforts (ICES 2018) but can also be driven by natural variations in abundance and/or recruitment (Menezes et al., 2006; Vasconcelos et al., 2018). The sustainable management of fisheries requires knowledge on the genetic background of the harvested population, its structure and its delineation. This study is the first one employing microsatellite markers on T. picturatus to infer the structure and migration dynamics among fishing grounds sampled in 2013 and 2016 in the NE Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea. Individuals were collected at six sampling locations in the NE Atlantic - Azores, Madeira, Canaries and Portugal mainland (Matosinhos, Peniche and Portimão) - and one location in the Mediterranean Sea - Sicily. Results of this first assessment revealed a high spatio-temporal conservation of gene diversity and a lack of genetic structure across the species distribution. Therefore, current data suggest that the fishery is composed of a metapopulation exhibiting high gene flow among fishing grounds. The migration rates inferred suggest a high bidirectional migration rate (m  0.30) across the NE Atlantic longitudinal corridor. A directional property of the connectivity pattern is that migration proceeds from Macaronesia to Portugal mainland in autumn-winter while the way back seems to occur in spring-summer. These results are congruent with previously published mtDNA data (Moreira et al, 2019a) but contrast with the subpopulation units scenario identified in the region with ecological approaches, such as morphometrics (Vasconcelos et al. 2018), parasites (Costa et al., 2012, 2013; Hermida et al., 2015; Vasconcelos et al., 2017) and otolith microchemistry (Vasconcelos et al., 2018; Moreira et al., 2018, 2019b). Likely, the genetic scenario observed among subpopulations of this pelagic species reflects evolutionary time-scales and depicts a more conservative views than those based on parasitic, morphometric, chemical or tagging studies (Elliot et al., 1995; Kasapidis and Magoulas 2008) which provide information on the environments experienced by an individual over its lifetime (Woods et al., 2010). For the sustainability of this fishery, future works should focus on fully characterizing other properties of the connectivity pattern of this species such as the precise migratory corridors that allow the closure of the species life cycle.

Acknowledgements

Work was supported by FCT (SFRH/BD/111133/2015 to CM), NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000035 (MARINFO) and the Strategic Funding UID/Multi/04423/2019. Pablo Presa was supported by the IACOBUS INTERREG program 2018. The authors are grateful to H. Cabral Team (BIOCONNECT, PTDC/MAR/117084/2010) and wish to thank M. Felicio (IPMA Matosinhos), A. Paixão (IMAS/DOP), J. Delgado (DRP-M/SRARN), F. Tuya (IU-ECOAQUA, ULPGC), I. Bertocci and G. Milisenda (CNR-IAMC UOS Mazara del Vallo).

References

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Keywords: Blue jack mackerel, Fishery sustainability, Molecular markers, Migration patterns, Metapopulation

Conference: XVI European Congress of Ichthyology, Lausanne, Switzerland, 2 Sep - 6 Sep, 2019.

Presentation Type: Poster

Topic: GENETICS, GENOMICS AND PHYSIOLOGY

Citation: Moreira C, Presa P, Correia AT, Vaz-Pires P and Froufe E (2019). Stock structure of Trachurus picturatus from the NE Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea using microsatellite DNA markers. Front. Mar. Sci. Conference Abstract: XVI European Congress of Ichthyology. doi: 10.3389/conf.fmars.2019.07.00054

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Received: 20 May 2019; Published Online: 14 Aug 2019.

* Correspondence: Mx. Elsa Froufe, Interdisciplinary Center for Marine and Environmental Research, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Matosinhos, 4450-208, Portugal, elsafroufe@gmail.com