Lack of genetic differentiation in yellowfin tuna has conservation implications in the Eastern Pacific Ocean

Laia Muñoz-Abril, Maria de Lourdes Torres, Carlos A Valle, Francisco Rubianes-Landázuri, Felipe Galván-Magaña, Steven W J Canty, Martin A Terán, Margarita Brandt, Jaime A Chaves and Peter M Grewe

PLOS ONE, 2022, vol. 17, issue 8, 1-14

Abstract: Yellowfin tuna, Thunnus albacares, is an important global fishery and of particular importance in the Eastern Pacific Ocean (EPO). According to the 2019 Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) assessment, yellowfin tuna within the EPO is a single stock, and is being managed as one stock. However, previous studies indicate site fidelity, or limited home ranges, of yellowfin tuna which suggests the potential for multiple yellowfin tuna stocks within the EPO, which was supported by a population genetic study using microsatellites. If numerous stocks are present, management at the wrong spatial scales could cause the loss of minor yellowfin tuna populations in the EPO. In this study we used double digestion RADseq to assess the genetic structure of yellowfin tuna in the EPO. A total of 164 yellowfin tuna from Cabo San Lucas, México, and the Galápagos Islands and Santa Elena, Ecuador, were analysed using 18,011 single nucleotide polymorphisms. Limited genetic differentiation (FST = 0.00058–0.00328) observed among the sampling locations (México, Ecuador, Peru, and within Ecuador) is consistent with presence of a single yellowfin tuna population within the EPO. Our findings are consistent with the IATTC assessment and provide further evidence of the need for transboundary cooperation for the successful management of this important fishery throughout the EPO.

Date: 2022
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0272713 (text/html)
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id= ... 72713&type=printable (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0272713

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0272713

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in PLOS ONE from Public Library of Science
Bibliographic data for series maintained by plosone ().