2006 Annual Report 1.What major problem or issue is being resolved and how are you resolving it (summarize project aims and objectives)? How serious is the problem? Why does it matter? U.S. salmon production is constrained by lack of genetic improvement, disease, and low production efficiency. U.S. salmon producers are required to culture salmon of North American origin; however, no genetically improved native stocks are available. This requirement has necessitated the development of an applied Atlantic salmon research program to increase efficiency and sustainability of Atlantic salmon culture. Coldwater aquaculture production has great potential for expansion in the U.S., and American consumers readily accept salmon as a mainstream food item. Domestic production of Atlantic salmon is concentrated in Maine and Washington, and Maine is currently the leading producer of cultured salmon in the U.S. The research unit’s current primary research objective is genetic improvement of Atlantic salmon utilizing a family-based selective breeding program. Economically important traits and goals will be defined; offspring from selected families will be analyzed for commercially important production traits (e.g. growth, disease resistance, fillet yield and quality), genetic and phenotypic variation estimated, and genetic analyses will be utilized to develop improved North American Atlantic salmon lines for U.S. producers and consumers. This project has four specific objectives: . 1)obtain and compare performance of selected North American Atlantic salmon stocks for utilization in an applied selective breeding program;. 2)estimate genotypic and phenotypic parameters for commercially important traits and develop a selection index; and. 3)evaluate specific breeding aids such as polyploidy (triploid) and sex-reversal (all-female stocks) for benefits to Atlantic salmon aquaculture. Research accomplished during this project will result in the development of genetically improved North American Atlantic salmon stocks for release to U.S. producers and consumers, and provide information and solve problems limiting the profitability and sustainability of coldwater marine aquaculture in the U.S. This research is conducted under ARS National Program 106 - Aquaculture. The research program relates to Agency National Program Goal 1: To Promote an Agricultural Food and Fiber System That is Productive and Highly Competitive in the Global Economy (specifically, Performance Goal 1.2.1.1: Experimentally develop and demonstrate production of new, improved, and alternative farm animals, crops, and horticultural products), and Goal IV: To Foster an Agricultural System That Protects Natural Resources and the Environment (specifically, Performance Goal 4.1.2.3: Demonstrate techniques that can improve efficiency). There has been limited genetic improvement of aquaculture stocks so there are major opportunities for improvement through traditional animal breeding, broodstock development, germplasm preservation, molecular genetics, and allied technologies. Commercial salmon producers in the U.S. predominantly utilize fish stocks that are not many generations removed from wild, unselected stocks. Research in the Atlantic salmon breeding program will address improvement of growth rates, feed efficiency, survival, disease resistance, fecundity, fillet yield and product quality; environmental tolerances; genetic characterization and gene mapping; and conservation and utilization of important aquatic germplasm. Development of improved Atlantic salmon lines utilizing North American germplasm with superior performance for commercially important traits and utilization of these lines in commercial culture will help solve production problems, increase efficiency and profitability, and provide a quality product for consumers. 2.List by year the currently approved milestones (indicators of research progress) Year 1 (FY2004) Completion of two early growth evaluation of 5 different genetic stocks. Obtain an additional year-class of fish from industry and agency collaborators. Completion of two early-growth evaluations of 5 different pedigreed stocks. Completion of two early growth evaluations of separate diploid mixed sex, diploid all female, and triploid all female stocks. Obtain eggs from ten full-sib families to genetic effects on triploid induction. Year 2 (FY2005) Complete transfer of smolts to collaborator sea cages for performance evaluations. Complete data analysis from freshwater rearing phase. Stock pit tagged smolts from different stocks into sea cages. Completion of freshwater growth evaluations. Year 3 (FY2006) Complete transfer 2004/2005 smolts to sea cages. Continue evaluations as in year 2 for a new year class of fish obtained in 2004-2005. Year 4 (FY2007) Complete growth monitoring and harvest of fish from sea cages. Determination of best performing stocks and families. Complete data analysis of saltwater rearing phase. Complete calculation of breeding values. Develop selected broodstock line for spawning. Evaluate growth and reproductive characteristics of stocks. Data analysis to determine benefits from all-female culture and triploidy. Year 5 (FY2008) Complete growth monitoring and harvest of fish from sea cages from additional year class obtained in 2004-2005. Transfer eggs from select lines to collaborators. Develop selected broodstock line for spawning from 2nd year class. 4a.List the single most significant research accomplishment during FY 2006. Evaluation of Atlantic salmon growth in sea cage evaluations showed variation between different strains. Weight data was collected during the winter of 2006 on samples from the 2003/2004 year-class of Atlantic salmon stocked into an industry collaborator sea cage in the spring of 2005. Fastest growth rates were obtained for two St. John’s River strains, which averaged 1,296 and 1,251 grams. Gaspe, Penobscot River, and Landlocked strain fish averaged 1,042, 840, and 711 grams, respectively. Mortality was highest in the Gaspe strain and was over 60%, while other strains had mortality ranging from 1.4 to 14%. These fish will continue to be cultured to market size and harvest is anticipated to occur during the winter of 2006. All surviving fish will be weighed and data analyzed to determine which broodstock would be spawned to develop a select line. This research was conducted under ARS National Program 106 – Aquaculture and relates to Agency National Program Goal 1: To Promote an Agricultural Food and Fiber System That is Productive and Highly Competitive in the Global Economy. 4b.List other significant research accomplishment(s), if any. Three consecutive year-classes of Atlantic salmon have been obtained for inclusion in the breeding program. An additional year-class (2005/2006) of Atlantic salmon from 5 different sources was obtained from collaborators to continue the breeding program at the USDA, ARS National Cold Water Marine Aquaculture Center. Eyed eggs were disinfected, incubated, hatched, and fish reared as parr (juveniles) in indoor (greenhouse) tanks. Early growth evaluation of the different genetic stocks during the parr (juvenile) stage was completed and data are being analyzed. Parr from the 2004/2005 year-class were pit tagged, vaccinated, and stocked into replicated communal tanks for evaluation of growth to smolts. Smolts from the 2004/2005 year-class were transferred into another sea cages at an aquaculture lease site operated by industry collaborators. These fish will be reared through 2007 to market size, data collected on harvest weight, and data analyzed to determine broodstock to be spawned as a selected line. This research was conducted under ARS National Program 106 – Aquaculture and relates to Agency National Program Goal 1: To Promote an Agricultural Food and Fiber System That is Productive and Highly Competitive in the Global Economy. 4c.List significant activities that support special target populations. Development of Atlantic salmon lines with superior performance for commercially important traits and utilization of these lines by commercial producers will help solve production problems, increase efficiency and profitability for both small and large producers, and provide a quality product for consumers. Commercial salmon producers have a critical, immediate need for improved stocks of North American origin, and almost certainly will utilize improved germplasm developed from the National Cold Water Marine Aquaculture Center breeding program. Although the generation interval for Atlantic salmon is approximately 4 years, development and use of improved lines will quickly affect the profits both large producers and smaller contract growers. Because small contract producers do not enjoy the same economies of scale experienced by larger operations, breeding fish with improved production traits will be highly beneficial to small independent producers. 4d.Progress report. Genetically improved Atlantic salmon lines selected for multiple economically important traits and derived from North American germplasm are important for the viability and continued growth of the commercial U.S. salmon industry. The research program currently is utilizing two temporary greenhouses, one for culturing parr and the other for culturing smolts and subadults, for culture tanks while construction of permanent facilities is continuing. Construction of required infrastructure (water wells, power lines, seawater pumping and storage) has been completed. The applied breeding program in the USDA, ARS NCWMAC will initially focus on growth, but also evaluate other commercially important traits if possible. At the present time, the research program is maintaining 3-year classes (2003/2004, 2004/2005, and 2005/2006) in temporary facilities. The construction of permanent facilities is scheduled for completion in the summer of 2007. An additional culture facility is under construction and will be used for culturing 2003/2004-year class fish until the permanent facilities are completed. An additional year class (2006/2007) will be obtained in the fall of 2006, but cannot be maintained past the parr stage until permanent facilities are operational. The first two year classes of fish in the breeding program have been stocked into industry sea cages for growth evaluations. Once these evaluations are completed, brood fish can be identified with superior growth traits, spawned to produce a select line, and eggs from these fish can be transferred to producers and consumers. The USDA, ARS National Cold Water Marine Aquaculture Center and the University of Maine have independent interests in marine aquaculture and are currently engaged in mutual research under a non-funded cooperative agreement entitled “Development of Cold Water Marine Aquaculture Research “. Both parties are striving to develop improved technologies to solve problems facing the sustainability of marine aquaculture and benefit U.S. producers and consumers. Mutual benefits to both research programs will be achieved through cooperative planning and execution of research activities that address state, regional and national priorities. During the past year, both informal and formal meetings have been help to discuss mutual research priorities, seek extramural funding opportunities, and coordinate resource allocations. Both groups have assigned staff members to assist in mutual research planning. Shared research infrastructure consisting of a pump house and water storage facility at the Franklin, ME location is still under construction and has not yet been commissioned. A new backup generator was installed to provide electrical power to the pump house and water storage tanks during power failures. Cooperative research involving ARS and University of Maine scientists will be discussed in collaboration with industry representatives at annual meetings and review sessions. Temporary facilities have been developed to incubate eggs and perform early rearing of Atlantic salmon. Eggs from 5 different North American salmon stocks representing three year-classes (2003/2004, 2004/2005, and 2005/2006) have been incubated, hatched, and reared as parr and smolts in indoor (greenhouse) tanks. Early growth evaluations of the different genetic stocks and separate diploid mixed sex, diploid all-female, and triploid all-female have been partially completed. Ten full-sib families were not available; collaborator pooled eggs from families, so family effects will not be estimable for this group of fish. Only the effects of triploidy and mono-sex (all-female) culture will be estimated. 5.Describe the major accomplishments to date and their predicted or actual impact. This project was initiated in March 2003. Project stakeholders and users of research from this project are U.S. seafood producers and consumers along with the scientific research and extension communities. Major accomplishments to date are:. 1)the development of a new USDA, ARS national cold water marine finfish research program and facilities in collaboration with producers and consumers,. 2)a breeding program to develop improved Atlantic salmon lines from North American stocks has been initiated and is evaluating the germplasm in commercial production environments in collaboration with commercial producers, and. 3)meetings have been held with research collaborators and producers concerning future multi-disciplinary research on salmon and other marine finfish with potential for commercial culture. This research was conducted under ARS National Program 106 – Aquaculture and relates to Agency National Program Goal 1: To Promote an Agricultural Food and Fiber System That is Productive and Highly Competitive in the Global Economy. 6.What science and/or technologies have been transferred and to whom? When is the science and/or technology likely to become available to the end-user (industry, farmer, other scientists)? What are the constraints, if known, to the adoption and durability of the technology products? Two Material Transfer Agreements (MTA) have been developed under this research project. Both MTAs (one to Heritage Salmon and one to Atlantic Salmon of Maine) covered the transfer of individually tagged juvenile (smolts) salmon from the breeding program to an industry collaborator sea cage for performance evaluations under commercial conditions. When the fish reach market size they will be harvested and data collected on growth and survival for subsequent analysis and use in the breeding program. 7.List your most important publications in the popular press and presentations to organizations and articles written about your work. (NOTE: List your peer reviewed publications below). Wolters, W. R. 2006. Early growth evaluations of five selected Atlantic salmon stocks for inclusion in a North American breeding program. Aquaculture America 2006, Las Vegas, NV, February 2006, Abstract p. 496. Wolters, W. R., S. T. Summerfelt, B. J. Vinci, A. Masters, and B. L. Brazil. 2005. Facilities and program development at the USDA, ARS National Cold Water Marine Aquaculture Center in Franklin, ME. International Sustainable Marine Fish Culture Conference and Workshop, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution, Fort Pierce, FL, October 2005, Abstract p. 18. Wolters, W. R. 2006. Post-smolt survival and growth of five Atlantic salmon stocks in seawater. Third Maine Atlantic Salmon Technical Advisory Committee Research Forum, University of Maine, Orono, ME, January 2006. Abstract p. 13.