Estimating Fish Population Size from DNA
But how many fish are there, really?
At COOOL, we are exploring innovative ways to answer one of the most fundamental questions in fisheries science: estimating population size – especially when traditional methods fall short.
One promising approach is Close-Kin Mark-Recapture (CKMR).
Imagine that every time a fish is caught, a small DNA sample is collected. As samples accumulate, we begin to detect family relationships: parent–offspring pairs, siblings, even grandparent–grandchild links. It’s a bit like a village – the smaller the village is, the more likely you are to encounter members of the same family, the bigger it is, the less likely you’ll meet people who are related to one another.
By analyzing how frequently these relationships occur, we can infer population size:
many related individuals > likely a smaller population
few related individuals > likely a larger population
In our recent work on Indian Ocean swordfish, we demonstrated how CKMR can move from theory to practical application, providing a roadmap for implementing this approach in real fisheries.
At COOOL, we are now working to turn these advances into operational tools for fisheries management, supporting institutions from sampling design to abundance estimation.
We can support institutes, fisheries departments, and ministries with:
• feasibility studies
• sampling strategy design
• genomic workflows
• kinship analysis
• abundance estimates on a case-by-case basis
If your institution is interested in exploring genetic approaches to estimate stock abundance, feel free to reach out.
Check out one of our newest publications to learn more: https://www.mdpi.com/2410-3888/11/3/149
#CKMR #FisheriesScience #Genomics #StockAssessment #FisheriesManagement #SustainableFisheries