Genomics: A Powerful Tool in the Management and Conservation of Fisheries Resources

Genomic research has revolutionized biology and medicine in many different ways due mainly to the advent and advance of next-generation sequencing technology.  Fisheries science should take this opportunity promoting genomic studies at different levels form population structure to ecosystem function. We will review different genomic techniques (including RNA-Seq and metagenomics) and their various applications, with an emphasis on natural resources management and conservation. We will present the results of an ongoing research project that pertains to bigheaded carps in the Mississippi River Basin (MRB) and the Yangtze River Basin (YRB) undertaken with different genomic techniques and discuss the implication of our major findings in Asian carp management in the MRB and conservation in the YRB. We envision genomics combined with the already well-established techniques will set a new paradigm for fisheries research, management and conservation in great rivers.