Volume 69
Genetic Population Structure, Diversity, and Connectivity of Endangered Nassau Grouper (Epinephelus striatus) in the Bahamas
Authors
Sherman, K.D., A.R. King, C.P. Dahlgren, S.D. Simpson, J.R. Stevens and C.R. Tyler Download PDF Open PDF in BrowserOther Information
Date: November, 2016
Pages: 333 - 334
Event: Proceedings of the Sixty eigth Annual Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute
City: Grand Cayman
Country: Cayman Islands
Abstract
Effective fisheries management requires a sound understanding of the reproductive biology, source-sink dynamics and genetic population structure of harvested species. The Nassau Grouper (Epinephelus striatus) fishery in The Bahamas has declined by up to 86% in the last two decades and has included the collapse of populations at several major spawning aggregation sites (Sherman et al. 2016). The status of Nassau Grouper spawning stocks throughout The Bahamas has not been comprehensively assessed and little is known about the genetic structure of Grouper populations in this area. Available evidence suggests Bahamian populations of Nassau Grouper may be genetically distinct from Caribbean populations (Jackson et al. 2014). We used 15 species-specific polymorphic microsatellite loci to investigate population structure, diversity and connectivity of Nassau Grouper throughout the Bahamian archipelago.