SNP genotype dataset from brown and anadromous trout

Populations of anadromous brown trout, also known as sea trout, have
suffered recent marked declines in abundance due to multiple factors,
including climate change and human activities. While much is known about
their freshwater phase, less is known about the species’ marine feeding
migrations. This situation is hindering the effective management and
conservation of anadromous trout in the marine environment. Using a panel
of 95 single nucleotide polymorphism markers we developed a genetic
baseline, which demonstrated strong regional structuring of genetic
diversity in trout populations around the English Channel and adjacent
waters. Extensive baseline testing showed this structuring allowed the
high-confidence assignment of known-origin individuals to the region of
origin. This study presents new data on the movements of anadromous trout
in the English Channel and southern North Sea. Assignment of anadromous
trout sampled from 12 marine and estuarine localities highlighted
contrasting results for these areas. The majority of these fisheries are
composed predominately of stocks local to the sampling location. However,
there were multiple cases of long-distance movements of anadromous trout,
with several individuals originating from rivers in northeast England
being caught in the English Channel and southern North Sea, in some cases
more than 1000 km from their natal region. These results have implications
for the management of sea trout in inshore waters around the English
Channel and southern North Sea.