Genetic Assessment of the Klondike Lake Trout Strain: Comparison of Wild Source and Hatchery Strain

Establishing self-sustaining populations of lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) is a primary restoration goal in the Laurentian Great Lakes.  Lean lake trout have been the dominant morphotype stocked; however, a new strain (the Klondike strain) has been developed from a humper morphotype population in Lake Superior.  Currently, the Klondike strain is experimentally stocked in Lakes Ontario and Erie (beginning in 2004, approximately 44,000 fish stocked/stocking year/lake), with plans for future stocking in these and other Great Lakes.  To provide an initial genetic assessment of the strain, we estimated allelic diversity, heterozygosity, effective population size, the number of breeders, and compared the hatchery population to wild source collections.  Samples from both the wild source (n=192) and hatchery populations (n=100) were genotyped using thirteen variable microsatellite loci.  In addition, we compared Klondike lake trout to other strains currently used for restoration stocking.  Lake trout strains used in the among-strain comparison included the Seneca Lake, Apostle Island, Lake Champlain and other strains stocked into the Great Lakes.  The information from this study can be used to inform broodstock management practices and monitoring of lake trout for restoration, in addition to providing novel comparisons of the Klondike strain to other lake trout strains.