A Metabolomic Approach To Detect Effects of Salmon Farming on Wild Saithe (Pollachius virens) Populations

A metabolomics approach was used to analyze effects of salmon farming on wild saithe (Pollachius virens) populations. Saithe fish were captured at two salmon farms and at two control locations around the island of Hitra, Norway. Changes in diet seem to drive changes in metabolic status of fishes. The liver and muscle tissues, from the fishes captured around the farm, showed higher levels of lactate and certain amino acids (glutamine, glutamate, and alanine) and lower levels of glucose and choline than the fishes captured in the control locations, far from the farm locations. The higher levels of lactate and amino acids could be related to the facility of obtaining food around the farm and the deficit in choline to the deficit of this nutrient in the salmon feed. At each location the fish were captured with either benthic gill nets and automatic jigging machines, and this feature showed also variations in different metabolites.This research was funded by the Norwegian Seafood Research Fund through the project “Evaluation of actions to promote sustainable coexistence between salmon culture and coastal fisheries, ProCoEx” (Project 900772). K.T.-G. was supported by a grant from Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway through the EEA Financial Mechanism