Assessment and monitoring of genetic diversity in natural and augmented American shad (Alosa sapidissima) of the Santee-Cooper Basin of South Carolina

The Santee Basin Cooperative Accord was established to rebuild diadromous fish populations in upstream river reaches of the basin.  This will be done by relying on hatchery augmentations, re-locations, and fish passage.  A critical component of a successful hatchery augmentation program is that natural and hatchery populations maintain similar genetic resources.  We used ten microsatellite loci to estimate and compare indices of genetic diversity between hatchery brood stock used for initial augmentation efforts and wild adults.  We also assessed the utility of molecular tags to determine hatchery return rates.  There were no significant differences between hatchery brood stock and wild adults for average gene diversity (0.86) and average number of alleles (15) for the 2009 sampling season.  Using simulations, we found that ten microsatellite markers had a 100% allocation success rate for matching progeny back to their respective parents.  Our data indicates that the genetic diversity of the hatchery population remains relatively high when compared to the natural population and that molecular tags provide a feasible alternative to conventional tagging methods.  Our results also provide baseline data for monitoring and evaluating success of such programs -- highlighting the importance of using genetic information to assist restoration and reintroduction efforts.