National fish broodstock registry a new tool for fishery management

The long-term genetic integrity of fish broodstocks throughout the United States is being questioned as many managed fisheries decline. Lack of information on life history, behavior, reproduction, cultural performance, and post-stocking performance characteristics for most broodstocks is a primary limitation to more effective use of fishery resources. To address this problem, the National Fish Broodstock Registry (NFBR) was initiated in 1991. The NFBR consists of a series of databases designed to catalog information on managed wild and domestic broodstocks of six fish families: trout (salmonidae, excluding anadromous salmon), catfish (Ictaluridae), sturgeon (Acipenseridae), paddlefish (Polyodontidae), perch (Pescidae), and sunfish (Centrarchidae). The trout registry was established in 1993, with information on breeding history, genetic characteristics, life history, cultural performance, and field performance of 221 broodstocks. Information for the sturgeon/paddlefish and catfish databases have been collected. Data structure for each registry was developed by an advisory committee composed of species experts to include information considered important for managers, culturists, and researchers. Information was obtained through surveys of federal and state fisheries agencies and commercial producers. The NFBR databases consolidate known information on broodstock origin, breeding practices, reproduction, growth, disease resistance, stress tolerance, post-stocking performance, habitat preference, and genetic characteristics of each broodstock into a standardized data set. NFBR databases are designed to provide fisheries personnel with broodstock information that can be searched to quickly identify broodstocks with specific characteristics that can be matched to a given fishery management or production situation.