Atlantic Salmon Performance Selection and Broodstock Development Program for use in commercial saltwater aquaculture production on the east coast of Canada

The Atlantic Salmon Performance Selection and Broodstock Development Program is a multi-element, science/industry collaboration whose two general objectives are: 1) to examine genetic variability of traits chosen by industry that will improve commercial productivity and select individuals displaying improvement in those traits, and 2) to establish a pedigreed line of Atlantic salmon specifically selected for farming within commercial conditions employed by three Atlantic Canadian fish farming companies. Genetic variation and heritability for bacterial kidney disease, sea lice, growth, fillet yield and deformities are being studied. This is being completed by tagging individual fish and conducting challenges; tagging individual fish to create two breeding nuclei that will result in the future broodstock for industry partners; and, communal rearing of families in commercial sea cages on farms in New Brunswick and Newfoundland & Labrador for harvest assessment of growth, fillet yield, and incidence of deformities (fish will be assigned parentage by using microsatellite markers). This program will further increase the potential for traceability by allowing identification of fish from 'egg to plate'. To date, families have been created for the first two year classes and salmon progeny have been PIT tagged from the first year class of production.