From South Africa to the North Sea: sampling of hake in full swing

(2.7.2021) GenClim project investigates genetic changes in specific fish populations due to climate change.

According to team partners from Denmark, Portugal, South Africa and Germany, the new CeOS project GenClim is off to a good start despite the ongoing Corona pandemic. In Portugal, the collection of tissue samples from specific target species is almost complete. On the east coast of South Africa near Mozambique, many samples of anchovy have already been collected. Samples of hake have been taken on the coast in northern Namibia. Here, samples of anchovy probably cannot be collected because of a malfunctioning vessel. Sampling of hake and anchovy in the North Sea is planned for the end of September 2021. DNA will then be extracted in the laboratory by project partners, whereas the sequencing will be performed by an external provider in Hong Kong. Resulting genomic datasets will allow the assessment of population structures and patterns of local adaptation. These data can be used to improve predictions of which populations will persist or collapse under different climate change scenarios.