Genetics and Fisheries Management in the Great Lakes Region

The Great Lakes Science Center’s mission is to meet the Nation's need for scientific information for restoring, enhancing, managing, and protecting living resources and their habitats in the Great Lakes basin ecosystem.  Setting realistic restoration goals in the Great Lakes region is a difficult task that requires data from many sources.  Biological, chemical, habitat, physiological, and genetic data are all collected to describe the structure and status of aquatic ecosystems.  Genetic data provide information about taxonomic relationships, stock structure, interactions among different populations, and the relationship of morphological or life history differences to genetic diversity.  Managers then face the sometimes daunting challenge of incorporating genetic information with other sources of data to set realistic restoration goals.  As issues impacting past rehabilitation efforts emerge, and with many new challenges on the horizon, we can use what we have learned from past use of genetic methods to determine the most effective way to collect genetic data, share data with partner agencies, and incorporate genetic data with other data types.  In addition, we can look outside the Great Lakes region to learn about novel techniques and approaches to synthesizing multiple data types.  The recent ‘East Meets West’ initiative sponsored by the Great Lakes Science Center provides an example of how various agencies and researchers in different disciplines can explore commonalities and applicability of different science strategies for the conservation of native fishes and their habitats.