Domestication Selection and Its Implications for Supplementation of Novel Species in the Pacific Northwest

Evolving technologies over the last several decades have allowed scientists to explore and understand the fitness effects of artificially propagated salmonids interbreeding with wild salmonids.  An increasing body of evidence suggests that domestication selection in an artificial environment leads to animals that are not as fit in the natural environment as naturally produced animals.  A theoretic genetic model has been widely used to minimize the effects of domestication selection in a mixed population of artificially and naturally propagated salmonids, even though there is little empirical support for the predicted attenuation in fitness loss.  The theoretic model’s recommendations for the proportion of wild fish collected for propagation and natural spawning of propagated fish are applied to most artificial propagation programs intended to demographically supplement struggling wild salmonid populations in the Pacific Northwest.  Proposals have recently been brought forward to apply this salmonid supplementation model to non-salmonids in the Pacific Northwest.  I propose that differences in life-history strategies could lead to important differences in optimal supplementation strategies.  Should the current salmonid supplementation model be applied to struggling populations of non-salmonids Entosphenus tridentatus (Pacific lamprey) and Acipenser transmontanus (white sturgeon)?