Genetic patterns in Mugil cephalus and implications for fisheries and aquaculture management

Exploitation of fisheries and aquaculture practices are exposing marine fish populations to increasing genetic risks. Therefore, the integration of genetic information into fisheries and aquaculture management is becoming crucial to ensure species’ long-term persistence. The raising commercial value of grey mullet (Mugil cephalus) and its roe represents a growing challenge to the sustainable management of this economically important fishery resource. Here, microsatellites were used to investigate patterns of genetic variation in a Mediterranean area that harbor flourishing fisheries and practice semi-intensive farming of grey mullet. Genetic diversity within populations is smaller than values reported in previous studies as a result of the lower polymorphism displayed by the new microsatellite loci. Lack of genetic structuring points to the existence of a unique genetic stock, which is consistent with the species’ high dispersal capabilities. Nonetheless, differences in local population effective size as well as the excess of related individuals do not completely fit the picture of a large panmictic population. Baseline genetic information here gathered will allow to set up the genetic monitoring of regional fish stocks, which is needed to assess the impact of both harvesting and aquaculture on the genetic integrity of Mugil cephalus wild populations.