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Aquaculture provides an important and expanding source of protein rich and healthy food to the world. However, to minimize environmental harm from aquaculture, interactions with wild fish communities need to be thoroughly assessed. Here, we characterize the existing knowledge pertaining to such interactions, exemplified with Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) farming in open net pens along the Norwegian coast and potential consequences for wild Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) populations. Importantly, the wild cod fishery also provides a protein rich, high quality food source with high economic value. We identify seven risk sources that may affect behaviour, physiology, and survival in wild cod. Of particular importance is the large amount of waste feed that causes wild fish to aggregate around farms, thereby altering a multitude of ecological interactions including predation and disease transmission. Moreover, altered food quality in pellets may alter physiological processes and cause mortality to vulnerable life‐stages in wild cod. More research is needed on mechanisms and thresholds for harm. As the most important cod fisheries are found in northern Norway, where climate change also is rapid, we expect stronger and potentially more harmful interactions between fish farming and wild cod fisheries as aquaculture continues to expand. We hope that our analysis will inspire further research, on farmed salmon and wild cod interactions, but also on aquaculture and wild fish interactions in general. Such research is fundamental for the development of management systems that can reduce the impact of aquaculture on fisheries and the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identifying how physical and biotic factors shape genetic connectivity among populations in time and space is essential to our understanding of the evolutionary trajectory as well as the management of marine species. Atlantic cod is a widespread and commercially important marine species displaying several ecotypes with different life history strategies. Using three sets of SNPs: neutral, informative, and genome‐inversion linked, we studied population genetic structure of ~2500 coastal Atlantic cod (CC) from 40 locations along Norway's 2500 km coastline, including nine fjords. We observed: (1) a genetic cline, suggesting a mechanism of isolation by distance, characterized by a declining FST between CC and North East Arctic Cod (NEAC—genetically distinct migratory ecotype) with increasing latitude, (2) that in the north, samples of CC from outer‐fjord areas were genetically more similar to NEAC than were samples of CC from their corresponding inner‐fjord areas, (3) greater population genetic differentiation among CC sampled from outer‐fjord areas along the coast, than among CC sampled from their corresponding inner‐fjord areas, (4) genetic differentiation among samples of CC from both within and among fjords. Collectively, these results permit us to draw two main conclusions. First, that differences in the relative presence of the genetically highly distinct, migratory ecotype NEAC, declining from north to south and from outer to inner fjord, plays the major role in driving population genetic structure of the Norwegian CC. Second, that there is limited connectivity between CC from different fjords. These results suggest that the current management units implemented for this species in Norway should be divided into smaller entities. Furthermore, the situation where introgression from one ecotype drives population genetic structure of another, as is the case here, may exist in other species and geographical regions, thus creating additional challenges for sustainable fisheries management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many marine organisms have a permanent presence both inshore and offshore and spawn in multiple areas, yet their status as separate populations or stocks remain unclear. This is the situation for the northern shrimp (Pandalus borealis) around the Arctic Ocean, which in northern Norway represents an important income for a small-scale coastal fishery and a large-vessel offshore fleet. In Norwegian waters, we uncovered two distinct genetic clusters, viz. a Norwegian coastal and a Barents Sea cluster. Shrimps with a mixed heritage from the Norwegian coastal and the Barents Sea clusters, and genetically different from both, inhabit the fjords at the northernmost coast (Finnmark). Genetic structure between fjords did not display any general trend, and only the Varangerfjord in eastern Finnmark displayed significant genetic structure within the fjord. Shrimps in the Finnmark fjords differed in some degree from shrimps both in the adjacent Barents Sea and along the rest of the coast and should probably be considered a separate management unit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Challenging long‐held perceptions of fish management units can help to protect vulnerable stocks. When a fishery consisting of multiple genetic stocks is managed as a single unit, overexploitation and depletion of minor genetic units can occur. Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) is an economically and ecologically important marine species across the North Atlantic. The application of new genomic resources, including SNP arrays, allows us to detect and explore novel structure within specific cod management units. In Norwegian waters, coastal cod (i.e. those not undertaking extensive migrations) are divided into two arbitrary management units defined by ICES: one between 62° and 70°N (Norwegian coastal cod; NCC) and one between 58° and 62°N (Norwegian coastal south; NCS). Together, these capture a fishery area of >25,000 km2 containing many spawning grounds. To assess whether these geographic units correctly represent genetic stocks, we analysed spawning cod of NCC and NCS for more than 8,000 SNPs along with samples of Russian White Sea cod, north‐east Arctic cod (NEAC: the largest Atlantic stock), and outgroup samples representing the Irish and Faroe Sea's. Our analyses revealed large differences in spatial patterns of genetic differentiation across the genome and revealed a complex biological structure within NCC and NCS. Haplotype maps from four chromosome sets show regional specific SNP indicating a complex genetic structure. The current management plan dividing the coastal cod into only two management units does not accurately reflect the genetic units and needs to be revised. Coastal cod in Norway, while highly heterogenous, is also genetically distinct from neighbouring stocks in the north (NEAC), west (Faroe Island) and the south. The White Sea cod are highly divergent from other cod, possibly yielding support to the earlier notion of subspecies rank. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua L.) has formed the basis of many economically significant fisheries in the North Atlantic, and is one of the best studied marine fishes, but a legacy of overexploitation has depleted populations and collapsed fisheries in several regions. Previous studies have identified considerable population genetic structure for Atlantic cod. However, within Norway, which is the country with the largest remaining catch in the Atlantic, the population genetic structure of coastal cod (NCC) along the entire coastline has not yet been investigated. We sampled > 4000 cod from 55 spawning sites. All fish were genotyped with 6 microsatellite markers and Pan I (Dataset 1). A sub-set of the samples (1295 fish from 17 locations) were also genotyped with an additional 9 microsatellites (Dataset 2). Otoliths were read in order to exclude North East Arctic Cod (NEAC) from the analyses, as and where appropriate., Results: We found no difference in genetic diversity, measured as number of alleles, allelic richness, heterozygosity nor effective population sizes, in the north-south gradient. In both data sets, weak but significant population genetic structure was revealed (Dataset 1: global F ST  = 0.008, P < 0.0001. Dataset 2: global F ST  = 0.004, P < 0.0001). While no clear genetic groups were identified, genetic differentiation increased among geographically-distinct samples. Although the locus Gmo132 was identified as a candidate for positive selection, possibly through linkage with a genomic region under selection, overall trends remained when this locus was excluded from the analyses. The most common allele in loci Gmo132 and Gmo34 showed a marked frequency change in the north-south gradient, increasing towards the frequency observed in NEAC in the north., Conclusion: We conclude that Norwegian coastal cod displays significant population genetic structure throughout its entire range, that follows a trend of isolation by distance. Furthermore, we suggest that a gradient of genetic introgression between NEAC and NCC contributes to the observed population genetic structure. The current management regime for coastal cod in Norway, dividing it into two stocks at 62°N, represents a simplification of the level of genetic connectivity among coastal cod in Norway, and needs revision.

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of seasonal temperature variation on the functional properties of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) from white muscle and liver of Norwegian coastal cod (Gadus morhua) and the possible relevance of LDH allelic variability for thermal acclimation. Two groups of fishes were acclimated to 4 degrees C or 12 degrees C for one year. Polymorphism was observed in only one (Ldh-B) of the three Ldh loci expressed in cod liver and/or muscle. Isozyme expression remained unchanged regardless of acclimation temperature (T(A)). The products of locus Ldh-B comprise only 14-19% (depending on the tissue) of total LDH activities and, consequently, differences between phenotypes are negligible in terms of their effect on LDH total performance. No kinetic (, V(max)) or thermodynamic (E(a), DeltaG) differences were found among Ldh-B phenotypes. Clear kinetic differences were observed between LDH isoforms in the two tissues. However, the Arrhenius activation energy (E(a)) for pyruvate reduction was the same for both tissues (E(a)=47 kJ mol(-1)) at T(A)=12 degrees C. Factors T(A), tissue and phenotype did not reveal a significant effect on the Gibbs free energy change (DeltaG) of the reaction (55.5 kJ mol(-1)). However, at T(A)=4 degrees C, the E(a) was increased (E(a)=53-56 kJ mol(-1)) and the temperature dependence of the constant of substrate inhibition for pyruvate () decreased in both muscle and liver. In conclusion, the strategies of LDH adjustment to seasonal temperature variations in cod involve changes in LDH concentration (quantitative), adjustment of thermodynamic (E(a)) and kinetic () properties of the LDH (modulative) but not the expression of alternative isoforms (qualitative). We assume that the observed increase in E(a) and the decrease of temperature dependence of at low T(A) is the result of structural changes of the LDH molecule (temperature-driven protein folding). We propose a new mechanism of metabolic compensation of seasonal temperature variations - cold acclimation results in changes in the kinetic and thermodynamic properties of LDH in a way that favours aerobic metabolism through reduction of the competition of LDH for pyruvate in normoxic conditions.