Analysis of contemporary genetic structure of even-broodyear populations of Asian and western Alaskan pink salmon, Oncorhynchus gorbuscha

Even-year pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) populations from the Russian Far East and Japan exhibit genetic structure that reflects their geographic relationships. Extension of genetic analysis to include data from Bering Sea and northern Gulf of Alaska populations shows a combined genetic structure with three prominent groupings that correspond to the three North Pacific Ocean basins—the Sea of Okhotsk, the Bering Sea, and the Gulf of Alaska—and that are consistent with geographic, geologic history, and oceanographic features. Analysis of 35 Asian collections at 39 variable allozyme loci (54 total) allowed examination of population structure of even-year pink salmon. Although most (98.5%) of the genetic variation occurred within collections (populations), the 1.5% attributable to among-collection divergence was sufficient to detect population structure and provide a basis for some stock separation. Differences between western Kamchatka populations and eastern Sakhalin Island populations indicate that little gene flow occurs between those regions and argues against an interregional fluctuating stock model.