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Genetics Study Sheds New Light on California’s White Seabass Hatchery Program

Study indicates far more hatchery fish in California ocean waters than previously thought.

A new study four years in the making by a team of marine fisheries and genetic scientists indicates that many more white seabass in California ocean waters emanate from the Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute (HSWRI) hatchery in Carlsbad, California, than previously thought.

Presented at the Aquaculture 2022 conference in early March in San Diego, California, the preliminary findings contrast sharply with a 2017 study that suggested less than 1 percent of white seabass caught in California were from the Carlsbad operation, known officially as the Ocean Resources Enhancement and Hatchery Program (OREHP). Researchers had based the previous findings on recovered coded wire tags that are routinely implanted in all juvenile white seabass at the hatchery…

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