Forensic identification of fish farm escapees: the Norwegian experience

By Kevin Glover. 2010

102 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Aquaculture management authorities require the ability to identify the farm of origin for escaped fish. Physical tagging is routinely conducted for domesticated animals (e.g. sheep and cat- tle); however, there are considerable logistical, animal welfare and economic issues that challenge the feasibility of physically tagging all farmed fish. A 'DNA stand-by method' for identification of escaped Atlantic salmon, back to the cage and farm of origin, was established at the Institute of Marine Research in Norway. In addition, proof-of-concept for the method has been demonstrated to be able to trace rainbow trout and Atlantic cod escapees back to their farm source. The combined sampling, genotyping and statistical analysis on which the method is based has been implemented successfully in the identification of fish farm escapees in Norway, resulting in fines for companies found in breach of regulations. This paper reviews the method, its challenges, and some previously considered alternatives. It is concluded that as the method has been successful for the 3 major spe- cies farmed in Norway, each with contrasting production logistics including breeding programs, state of domestication, and magnitude of production, the DNA stand-by method can be applicable to iden- tification of fish farm escapees for a wide range of aquaculture species in all regions of the world.

Subfields: Aquatic Science, Molecular Biology, Nature and Landscape Conservation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/0afb98f2b39d70972b3bfcbc2c4c3e241599c21c

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In Aquatic Science

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In Nature and Landscape Conservation

Citations in the corpus

Half a century of genetic interaction between farmed and wild Atlantic salmon: Status of knowledge and unanswered questions (2017, unknown): “Escapes of post-smolts and adults from marine cages occur extensively (Crozier, 1993; Glover, 2010) and typically dominate escapees in the wild (although this is region dependent).”
Differentiating the wild or farmed origin of Mediterranean fish: a review of tools for sea bream and sea bass (2013, background): “Thus, the ‘DNA stand-by method’ could be applied to identify fish farm escapees for a wide range of aquaculture species in all regions of the world (Glover 2010).”
Escapes of fishes from Norwegian sea-cage aquaculture: causes, consequences and prevention. (2010, background): “In addition, recent advances in Norway on tracing escaped fish with genetic techniques and their subsequent successful use in court cases against farms that have not reported escapes (Glover 2010), may lead to greater detectability and an increase in the reporting of escapes in the future.”
Rainbow Trout in Europe: Introduction, Naturalization, and Impacts (2015, background): “On account of these escapes, rainbow trout can be found in rivers and along the coast throughout much of Norway (Hindar et al., 1996; Borgstrøm and Øystein, 2008; Glover, 2008, 2010).”