Feasibility Study of Doing Genetics on the Port Moller Vessel, 2021

In April, BBRSDA committed financial support to test the feasibility of doing the in-season genetic analysis for stock composition estimates from the Port Moller Test Fishery (PMTF) onboard one of the test boats.  BBRSDA again leveraged its financial commitment with support from the Bristol Bay Science and Research Institute (BBSRI) and Bay salmon processors. 

The project is a joint effort by BBSRI and ADF&G’s genetics lab.  If proven successful in 2021, this will be a major step forward for the PMTF program.  In future seasons, the stock composition results would become available days earlier than is now possible with it being necessary for the test boat to bring samples ashore to ship them by air to ADF&G’s Gene Conservation Laboratory (GCL) in Anchorage.  In addition, at-sea genotyping fish would eliminate the need for considerable vessel time spent running samples to the Alaska Peninsula for shipping.  This will reduce project costs and/or increase the number of stations that can be fished each day.  About 30% or more of one vessel’s time is now spent bringing samples to land from the inner stations, which are 30-40 miles offshore of Peter Pan’s plant at Port Moller.

This past winter a desk-top feasibility analysis showed that existing technology and ADF&G’s current DNA baseline for Bristol Bay sockeye might work.  Following that, a genetics equipment manufacturer (Fluidigm) conducted tests at its engineering facility in Singapore to test various vibration dampening equipment and other modifications to stabilize equipment that is designed for land-based laboratories.  With success in the engineering facility, the study team embarked on a very ambitious schedule to see if the technology could be tested this summer.

IF everything in a tight schedule goes well in May, the DNA sequencing equipment will be installed on the R/V Ocean Cat and the crew will analyze tissue samples during test fishing in June and early July.  The 2021 samples must also be run in the Anchorage facility to confirm whether at-sea results are accurate across all sea states and conditions typically encountered.  Therefore, stock composition estimates this summer will follow the schedule done in previous seasons.   Stay tuned this summer for progress reports on how things are going in BBSRI’s PMTF updates.