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Kokanee are a landlocked version of the sockeye salmon species and live their entire lives in freshwater. They are an important food, social and ceremonial fish for First Nations and are one of the key species of recreational fisheries that contribute over $500 million to British Columbia’s economy each year. In addition to being an excellent food fish, matching the quality of ocean-going sockeye salmon, kokanee are a primary prey species for rainbow trout, a popular species for recreational anglers.

Climate change is making freshwater systems warmer, reducing the oxygen content and altering pH, threatening to wipe out wild kokanee populations. The recent collapse of the Meadow Creek kokanee wild stock, a source for stocking programs throughout western North America, highlights this problem. This event prompted the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC (FFSBC), BC Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship (WLRS) and Parks Canada to partner with UBC researchers to develop genomic tools to help select healthy and resilient kokanee stocks and monitor hatchery production. This work is crucial to help sustain this valuable fishery in a changing climate.

This project used whole-genome sequencing to study all known kokanee wild stocks in BC and Yukon. This was then used to construct a catalogue of genetic variation and to understand each stock’s vulnerability to climate change. The project also developed rapid, cost-effective genotyping tools for identifying which donor stocks are most likely to be resilient in a changing climate.

Moreover, the team developed a Kokanee Fit-Chip, which has potential to be used as an inexpensive tool to evaluate how well different kokanee populations tolerate thermal and physiological stress. The Fit-Chip analyzes tissue samples to look for biomarkers that reveal how fish respond to thermal stress and low oxygen, as well as viral diseases.

These leading-edge genomic tools hold great promise to support BC’s recreational kokanee fisheries. They will help the FFSBC identify stocks that will thrive in future environments, allowing them to reduce costs by selecting suitable donor populations and increasing license sales as potentially more lakes can be utilized for kokanee stocking purposes.