Stock Local

I had to scramble this morning.  I had seen a number of interesting titles on the AFS Journals website for TAFS recently, and went looking for them again today.  But, they had been replaced on the “recent” tab with even newer papers, and they have not been published in an issue yet.  So, I had to find something new!  Once they come out in a new issue from our new publisher, Oxford University Press, I will be sure to find again and share!

Today’s paper is really interesting to me. I have a significant interest in walleyes. I don’t catch them often, and they aren’t my favorite fish (that’s a pumpkinseed), but the immense amount of money spent on stocking these fish always had me asking questions.  The paper is a stocking assessment comparing fry from locally adapted fish in Minnesota, to fry from a different region of the state.  It reinforces to me that local adaptations and genetics matter.  It reminds of some work done by Iowa DNR looking at the stocking performance of fry with greater genetic diversity from Mississippi River source against fry from the more genetically isolated Spirit Lake strain. There are so many nuances when contemplating these issues and concepts, I enjoy the mental exercise!

https://doi.org/10.1002/nafm.11025