Genetic pattern fluctuations in wild swimming crab populations, under the influence of continuous mass stock enhancement

Abstract The swimming crab is an important commercial fishery species in China, Korea and Japan. Overfishing and destruction of habitats in coastal waters mean that the natural resources cannot meet the swimming crab’s increased demands for food, caused by large-scale stock enhancement in Liaoning, China over the last eight years. The genetic response of the local wild populations to such a large-scale release has not been investigated. Here, we monitored the temporal variations in genetic diversity and structure in Panjin and Yingkou using eighteen microsatellite markers across six years. A high level of genetic diversity was maintained in these populations, but significant deviation from HWE was observed (P