Genetic baseline to differentiate Quillayute Basin summer and fall coho

Tissue was collected from hatchery broodstocks of summer and fall coho salmon and tested against mixtures of unknown origin coho collected from tribal gillnet fisheries in the Quillayute system. Genetic analysis of fish spawning in the river and also mixtures of fish sampled in the gillnet fishery allowed for differentiation between summer and fall Sol Duc hatchery stocks both in the river and in harvest.

This project is essential for the Quileute Tribe to evaluate and better manage the summer and fall coho programs. Genetic stock identification using 100% of hatchery broodstock as a baseline allows fine-scale resolution of populations present in the river and, if broodstock collection continues, individuals from spawning grounds and in-river fisheries can be assigned to a population of origin through kinship detection regardless of the resolution available from the baselines (Beacham et al 2017).