VANN: Individual assignment of Atlantic salmon caught in the ocean region

The project aims to investigate the genetic structure of Norwegian salmon populations. The results from project will, together with results from similar ongoing projects in other European projects, be used to build a common range wide database of salmon p opulations that can be used for assigning salmon caught in the sea to region of origin. Large collections of samples from ocean cruises exist at several institutions, and though there has been some recaptures of tagged individuals, the origin of most of t hese samples are unknown. It is believed that a database of baseline genetic data will provide the means to assign individual fish to country, region and possibly river of origin. Unified efforts to build such a database is supported by NASCO and a networ k of genetic laboratories, SALMAN, working towards this goal has been established. All laboratories will use a common set of microsatellite markers, that will be intercalibrated, in their mapping work. This project aims to map Norwegian populations at th ree spatial levels; nation wide, regional and within a river system to evaluate and quantify the variation. Also, more than 2000 samples from ocean cruises will be analysed and compared against the baseline profiles in the database. The resulting assignme nt will provide new information on migration paths and feeding areas of post-smolts and adult salmon in the Atlantic ocean that will help to explain the different sea mortality rates observed for salmon from different regions of Europe. These new insights will enable managers make informed decisions in questions affecting salmon marine survival.