Standard Presentation (15 mins) Australian Marine Sciences Association 2022

Struggling or adapting? Creating biomarkers to understand Chinook salmon physiological responses to climate change.  (#242)

Roberta RM Marcoli 1 2 , Jane JS Symonds 3 , Seumas SW Walker 3 , Mark MP Preece 4 , Christopher CB Battershill 2 , Steve SB Bird 2
  1. James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, Australia
  2. The University of Waikato, Tauranga, New Zealanad
  3. Cawthron Institute, Nelson, New Zealand
  4. New Zealand King Salmon Co. ltd, Nelson, New Zealand

It is now widely accepted that climate change is - and will be - a threat to the aquaculture industry, with the biggest issue being a slow but continuous rise of the water temperature and the direct lowering of dissolved oxygen. In New Zealand fish farms, during the hottest period of the year (January/February), the temperature of the water has been shown to reach the Chinook salmon’s limit of thermal tolerance. The responses of Chinook salmon to chronic, long term changes in temperature and oxygen were investigated with a unique experiment lasting for up to three months. This talk will focus on the identification, characterization and development of biomarkers within Chinook salmon and how they have been used to monitor responses to changes in the fish’s environment. It will provide evidence of how the use of molecular biology tools, alongside general health and hematological parameters, have the potential to better inform the aquaculture industry and help it overcome bottlenecks, to become more resilient, efficient and productive.