Investigation of genomic approaches for management of early maturation in farmed Atlantic salmon

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Early maturation of salmon, called "grilsing" is a significant problem for the industry as it reduces the eating quality of the fish. Salmon breeding programs are designed to reduce early maturation at the same time as decreasing days to market and increasing survivability to market weight. In 2015 ocean net pen sites located around Vancouver Island experienced significant differences in water temperatures resulting in varying rates of early maturation between production areas. Previous research has found variation in maturity to have a moderately heritable genetic predisposition. This project is designed to assist Cermaq Canada (who have been breeding Atlantic salmon since 1995) to develop a genomic strategy for the selection of decreased rates of early maturation in production populations while maintaining the desirable characteristics of the breeding population, and accounting for differences in environment.