| description |
The marine coldwater species Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) has been identified as an excellent candidate for aquaculture at northern latitudes, due to high worldwide demand and declining wild stocks, their good market value and relatively fast growth at low temperatures. Greatest interest in developing a cod farming industry is found in Norway, Canada and the United Kingdom as well as in Iceland and the northeast USA. Although the farming potential is considerable, some important challenges remain that need be unraveled. For example, early sexual maturation and disease can reduce flesh quality or increase mortality, causing serious economical harm. Additionally, the release of gametes and escaped fish from sea cages may result in interbreeding of farmed fish with wild stocks, potentially reducing the genetic health of these wild stocks. Such factors may prevent the rapid establishment of a sustainable cod-farming industry. The availability of reference genome sequences will accelerate genomic research on cod, e.g. enabling large scale cataloging of sequence variation and allowing further understanding of the biological significance of such variation. Many cod stocks are intensively harvested at a level where evolutionary changes in the life-history traits, such as age and size at maturation, are to be expected. A cod reference genome will be the basis for improving our understanding of such fisheries-induced selection and provide insight in the evolutionary potential of cod to recover after relaxed fishing pressure. |