Interactions between migration, marine survival, and disease susceptibility in Atlantic salmon.

健康、可持续的大西洋鲑鱼（Salmo salar）种群对加拿大的经济、生态和文化都很重要。然而，自20世纪80年代以来，许多种群数量严重减少，导致加拿大濒危野生动物状况委员会（COSEWIC）将许多种群列入濒危名单。目前，对它们的生存影响最大的是幼鱼进入海洋环境后的生存。在这个战略伙伴关系拨款提案中，我们将使用声学遥测和尖端基因组技术来解决几个战略问题。首先，我们将与加拿大渔业和海洋（DFO）以及大西洋鲑鱼联合会（ASF）的合作伙伴一起，研究自然发生的病原体在整个海洋、魁北克、纽芬兰和拉布拉多地区幼鲑鱼种群的迁移行为和死亡中所起的作用。其次，我们将通过量化居住模式、迁徙路径和围栏附近的死亡率来研究整个地区野生鲑鱼与养殖围栏的相互作用。与此同时，我们将在网笼附近收集的水样中描述病原体的特征，并通过对新不伦瑞克省一条河上经常被鱼梯捕获的网笼逃脱者进行机会性采样，我们将比较同一条河中水产养殖鲑鱼和野生鲑鱼的疾病特征。第三，我们将研究孵化场饲养对鲑鱼幼鱼行为和存活的影响。通过比较同一条河流中的孵化场和野生鱼，我们将探讨孵化场鱼对病原体的敏感性和迁移行为是否存在差异。最终，我们将使用从这些研究中收集的数据来开发模型，以检验水产养殖和/或孵化场操作与自然环境变化之间的死亡率解释程度，以及这些因素是否实际上阻碍了大西洋鲑鱼种群的恢复。鉴于《濒危物种法》规定，恢复战略必须解决COSEWIC确定的威胁，这些问题对DFO和ASF至关重要。

Healthy, sustainable Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) stocks are important economically, ecologically, and culturally to Canada. However, many populations have been severely decreasing since the 1980s, leading to an endangered listing for many populations by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). Currently, the greatest impacts to their survival have been linked to juvenile survival upon entry into the marine environment. In this Strategic Partnership Grant proposal, we will use acoustic telemetry and cutting edge genomic techniques to address several strategic issues. Firstly, with our partners at Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) and at the Atlantic Salmon Federation (ASF), we will examine the role of naturally occurring pathogens in mediating the migration behaviour and mortality of juvenile salmon in populations throughout the Maritimes, Quebec, and Newfoundland & Labrador. Secondly, we will examine the interactions of wild salmon with aquaculture net-pens throughout the region by quantifying residency patterns, migration pathways, and mortality near net-pens. In parallel, we will characterize pathogen profiles in water samples collected near net-pens, and by opportunistically sampling net-pen escapees, which are frequently caught in a fish-ladder on a river in New Brunswick, we will compare disease profiles of aquaculture and wild salmon in the same river. Thirdly, we will examine the effects of hatchery rearing on the behaviour and survival of juveniles salmon. Hatchery rearing is commonly used for salmon supplementation, and by comparing hatchery and wild fish in the same river, we will explore whether hatchery fish have different susceptibilities to pathogens and altered migration behaviour. Ultimately, we will use the data that we collect from these studies to develop models that examine the degree to which mortality can be explained by aquaculture and/or hatchery operations versus natural environmental variation, and whether these are actually preventing the recovery of Atlantic salmon populations. These issues are of paramount importance to DFO and ASF, given that the Species at Risk Act stipulates that recovery strategies must address the threats identified by COSEWIC.