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The mainstream in genomics assumes that the High Throughput Sequencing (HTS) genomic methods’ application will be cost-effective, faster and more efficient than the traditional evaluation methods used in fish stocks’ assessments, which in the coastal systems are supported by evaluation surveys. The underlying research question is whether the genomic techniques are indeed cost-effective compared to traditional evaluation techniques or not. This report reviews the State of Art (SoA) on three HTS methods: i) Environmental DNA studies (eDNA); ii) Epigenetics for Age Determination method (DNAm) and; iii) Close-Kin Mark-Recapture studies (CKMR) applied in marine ecosystems and fisheries. The SoA review has been conducted aiming at identifying the processes that relate to the assessment of marine fishing activities and their costs. However, just a few research articles have addressed the issue in depth or by performing critical analysis. In this sense, the lack of information has been the main hurdle faced up by this report. The main conclusion reached in this research is that more information should be gathered to evaluate whether HTS methods can reduce costs of the assessment processes, by being quicker, more efficient and/or time-saving methods, with respect to the traditional evaluation techniques. Undoubtedly, the combined use of traditional and genomic tools will offer a broader picture about some of the marine ecosystems’ core characteristics such as biodiversity, stock status, age, sex, maturity and fertility than each one of the approaches separately. In summary, taking into account the recent surge of HTS methods, their dependency on the information gathered during traditional research surveys, and considering a short-term scenario, the balance in the use of both approaches should be the critical factor that improves the efficiency of the processes and allows taking advantage of potential cost reductions and scale economies. |
