Assessing and mitigating risk from a diversifying aquaculture industry: the potential for interaction between escapee and wild Atlantic cod

水产养殖已成为加拿大农村沿海地区的一个重要产业和雇主，其生产以大西洋鲑鱼为主。然而，该行业面临着与逃逸鱼类有关的挑战，尽管采取了缓解措施以减少其发生率，但逃逸鱼类仍然存在。此外，全球竞争和公众认知的不佳为鲑鱼创造了一个激烈的市场。为了保持竞争力，该行业正在多样化，并正在研究将大西洋鳕鱼等海洋物种作为驯化的候选物种。野生鳕鱼种群的崩溃激发了人们的兴趣，商业生产可能在不久的将来。根据鲑鱼的经验，我们可以预期养殖鳕鱼会逃脱并与野生鳕鱼相互作用。然而，对于这样一个严格的海洋物种来说，这些相互作用的程度和后果是未知的。在行业实践成为标准之前，在缓解变得困难和昂贵之前，现在是解决这个问题的时候了。我们的项目将确定养殖和野生鳕鱼之间的相互作用的性质，并从中提供一种评估风险和确定缓解措施的方法。我们的研究包括五个方面：（1）确定近交鳕鱼在笼子里繁殖的可能性，以及随后释放到环境中的胚胎质量。(2)确定可能降低鳕鱼逃离网箱动机的因素。(3)标记研究，以确定逃逸的鱼的命运，以及它们是否可以很容易地重新捕获。(4)交配实验来确定

Aquaculture has become an important industry and employer in coastal areas of rural Canada, with production dominated by Atlantic salmon. The industry, however, faces challenges related to escaping fish, which continue to persist despite mitigation measures to reduce their incidence. Moreover, global competition and poor public perception have created an intense market for salmonids. To remain competitive, the industry is diversifying, and marine species such as Atlantic cod are being studied as candidates for domestication. Interest has been spurred on by the collapse of wild cod stocks, and commercial production in likely in the near future. Based on experiences with salmon, we can expect farmed cod to escape and interact with wild cod. The extent and consequences of these interactions, however, are unknown for such a strictly marine species. Now is the time to address this issue before industry practices become standard, and before mitigation becomes difficult and costly to implement. Our project will determine the nature of the interactions between farmed and wild cod and from this, provide a means to assess risk and identify mitigation measures. Our research encompasses five areas: (1) Determination of the likelihood of inbred cod reproducing within cages, and the subsequent quality of embryos released into the environment. (2) Determination of factors which may reduce the motivation of cod to escape from cages. (3) Tagging studies to determine the fate of escaped fish and whether they can be easily recaptured. (4) Mating experiments to determine the potential for