Recently, an interesting European study of salmon has been completed, which has been going on since 2009. The project was entitled SALSEA-Merge and Matís was one of the researchers in it.
There is interest in building a new project in North America and Greenland on the same ideology and experience, but in this research, increased knowledge is gained about salmon stocks that flow this year and about sea areas.
"The project was to genetically identify salmon throughout the distribution area in Europe, from northern Spain in the south to Iceland and Russia in the north. A total of 26,813 salmonids from 284 rivers in this world were analyzed. Thus, we mapped institutions in the rivers, analyzed different genetic units that gave us a better picture of the genetic differences of the salmon stocks in the area, "says Kristinn Ólafsson, a specialist in genetic and biotechnology at Matís, who was in charge of genetic analysis of samples from Icelandic rivers.
"One of the main motivators for this project is the status of salmon stocks in the south of this area, i.e. in and around Spain. Due to climate change, the salmon stock is in danger there, but in addition many questions about the salmon are unanswered, including what happens when the salmon goes from the rivers to the sea and what causes increased mortality there. "
Participants in the project were research institutes such as Matís, universities and institutes in charge of salmon fishing management. In addition to Matís from Iceland, the Directorate of Fisheries also participated in the Salsea-Merge project. "
With the processing of these samples, a very large database was created that gives a picture of salmon stocks and a comparison of them. To get the clearest picture of the comparison, we agreed on 14 genetic markers that were all analyzed in the same way. With this large number of samples and the database that has been created during their processing, possibilities have now opened up for taking salmon into the sea and identifying where it came from. This has already been verified and gives us an idea of how salmon behave when they go to sea. Of course, we do not have a device that answers all our questions, but nevertheless this gives us a clearer picture than we had before, "says Kristinn.
As fishing for salmon in the sea is not permitted in Iceland, the Directorate of Fisheries has taken samples from salmon that are caught as by-catch in mackerel fishing. In this way, Kristinn says that the large study will be useful to get a clearer picture of the salmon's behavior in the Icelandic rivers.
"We hope to participate in a similar project that will hopefully become a reality in North America and Greenland. If this happens, a picture will be obtained of the entire area owned by the North Atlantic salmon. The project would then be carried out in the same way as in Europe, ie. that basic work will be started with samples and genetic analysis of fish from rivers and as a result an analysis of samples from fish in the sea will take place, "says Kristinn.
For further information Kristinn Ólafsson.