Comparison of two conservation aquaculture techniques for capturing Upper Columbia white sturgeon genetic diversity - final report

<p>In this report prepared for the Spokane Tribe of Indians, we describe a study whereby we compared the effectiveness of broodstock capture and larval repatriation at conserving genetic diversity in white sturgeon conservation aquaculture. We found that larval repatriation conserved more genetic diversity than the broodstock capture method and also minimized risks associated with domestication selection. Larval repatriation also eliminates the risk of producing and stocking spontaneous autopolyploid white sturgeon, which occurs at low frequencies in broodstock based sturgeon culture programs.