The application of genomic and physiological approaches to Arctic charr commercial aquaculture

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Aquaculture is recognized as a growing source of employment and offers the possibility for social and economic improvements in communities with limited industrial alternatives. Canadian aquaculture is considered to have entered its "second phase" as an industry and to remain competitive, it will have to develop new species for commercial cultivation. Arctic charr is an excellent intensive culture species that has a cold water requirement. The supply of charr is not expected to meet the growing demand and market prices should remain at a premium. Because of its geography and climate, Canada has the potential to account for the majority of the world's production of charr.  A major impediment to the expansion of Arctic charr farming is the inconsistent availability of high quality fish with well-defined production parameters.  One step that would facilitate the growth of the Canadian Arctic charr industry is the selection of strains that exhibit economically important traits.  This research project will provide the molecular genetic and phenotypic information that will increase the efficiency of artificial selection when combined with traditional quantitative genetic methods. Our long-term goal is to use marker assisted selection with this species.  The specific objectives will be to: (1) increase the size of the genetic linkage map for Arctic charr to 700 markers, (2) determine if quantitative trait loci (QTL) for body size and early maturation already identified have detectable effects across a major broodstock in eastern Canada, (3) evaluate the performance of families in freshwater and brackish water, (4) identify QTL for tolerance to full seawater, (5) identify QTL for growth and age of maturation through genome scans in families from the major Icelandic Arctic charr breeding program, and (6) facilitate information exchange among academics and the aquaculture sectors in Canada and Iceland. This project involves groups from two Canadian Universities, collaborators from government, Holar University College Iceland, and several Canadian Arctic charr industrial partners.