For the model species, most of the experiments with live salmon and trout under controlled conditions have taken place in Matre, Norway, which holds excellent facilities for keeping fish at various environmental settings. Again, most of the data analysis is in progress, but I would like to reveal a few of our initial insights generated by one of our dedicated PhD students, Alison Harvey from University of Bangor, Wales, and her collaborators. The main aim of Alison's work is to elucidate and quantify the genetic differences between wild, hybrid and farmed Atlantic salmon in key life-history traits. In her experiments she examined the differences in growth at low (7°C), medium (12°C) and high (16°C) temperatures for two farmed, five wild and two first generation (F1) hybrid strains/populations. Her data shows that, farmed fish (on average) outgrew the wild fish in all treatments, with hybrids displaying intermediate growth, although there were subtle differences in growth between all the strains/populations. Variation increased in the low and high temperatures. This data indicates that growth differences at varied temperatures are potentially strain/population specific. We think that these new findings have already contributed to a broader understanding of the effects of introgression between farmed and wild conspecifics, which will be very valuable for the final risk-assessment of the impact of European aquaculture on wild fish populations; a key deliverable of AquaTrace.

Finally, I would like to highlight some results having emerged from the analysis of our online questionnaire on breeding practices in European aquaculture enterprises led by Hervé Chavanne representing University of Padova, Italy. This survey, based on the answers from 29 major fish breeding companies, has provided an excellent overview of the status of fish breeding in Europe. Among many other insights the survey has revealed that the implementation of selective breeding programs is an ongoing process for all target species in Europe. Except for carp and turbot, at least one new program has been initiated over the last three

years for each species. In most cases precautions are taken by the breeding companies to monitor the increase of inbreeding at each new generation. Across Europe, the number of programs using molecular tools has more than doubled since the previous survey. Growth is the most popular selected trait, followed by morphology and disease resistance. Feed efficiency is now present in seven programs encompassing all species except carp. We expect that the full data will be ready for publication soon; however, Hervé can be contacted for more information
(panamelio@hotmail.com).

I think the whole consortium, like I, is very pleased that we now have generated and secured the majority of the raw data that will form the core of the analyses and output for the next two years. We have achieved the vast majority of our goals without major delays, which is thanks to the dedicated efforts of all consortium members. We will continue to work hard on producing more interesting insights of benefit to the scientific community, policy makers and other stakeholders, with the goal of a prosperous European aquaculture industry.

In order to subscribe to the AquaTrace e-newsletter please contact Mrs. Tine Kastrup tik@aqua.dtu.dk