Patterns of genetic variation in Atlantic cod populations in Greenlandic and Icelandic waters

Greenland and Iceland have historically been important fishing grounds for the Atlantic cod. In the 1930s, cod populations in West Greenland experienced a dramatic expansion, triggering intense harvesting. Overexploitation, in combination with climatic shifts, led to the collapse of the fishery in the 1960s. On the offshore banks where the fishery was primarily centered, Atlantic cod has been virtually absent since then, but in inshore areas, the species has continued to be found in low abundance and population sizes have even slightly expanded in recent years. The overarching goals of this project are therefore a) to characterize the spatial patterns of adaptive and neutral variation in the Atlantic cod populations along the coast of Greenland and Iceland, b) to examine potential drivers and the genetic underpinnings of the adaptive variation, and c) to inform management strategies based on such patterns of variation for this economically and culturally important species.