USDA-NOAA-USFWS Inter-Agency Special Session, USAS 2024, San Antonio, Texas 

The genetic resources of aquatic species are the fulcrum for adapting populations to environmental challenges. They represent billions of dollars of public and private-sector investment and are the foundation of our aquatic ecosystems. At present they are not well protected, especially in comparison with existing systems for safeguarding crop and livestock genetic resources. For example, decades of genetic improvement for aquaculture species are held as live populations that can be lost due to disease, accident, or natural disaster. Such risks are compounded by the uncertainty and problems presented by climate change with effects that will ripple throughout our economy, agricultural production systems, and natural ecosystems. As such, sole reliance on live populations is expensive and unnecessarily risky. Such problems have begun to be addressed in aquatic species, for example protection of more than 30,000 allelic lines of zebrafish for biomedical research at the NIH-funded Zebrafish International Resource Center, and thousands of aquatic samples at the USDA-ARS National Animal Germplasm Program.  

However, this is an enormous problem that in many ways is beyond the resources of individual government agencies, thus requiring development of national programs and infrastructures. Based on this need, inter-agency discussions have begun to visualize a national framework for protection, distribution, and use of aquatic genetic resources among the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, and Interior. Although these agencies address different missions and user communities, commonalities exist that can fuel strategic partnerships based on generalized approaches. For example, the same techniques, personnel, equipment, and facilities can be used to address inland aquaculture species (e.g., for USDA), marine fishery species (e.g., for NOAA), and imperiled and recreational sport species (e.g., for USFWS). These efforts are being compiled into a whitepaper implementation strategy that is the subject of this special session, to engage multiple commodity groups and solicit input on needs for establishing a functional infrastructure based on aquatic germplasm repositories. Such an infrastructure should accommodate collection, characterization, cryopreservation, storage, transport, and use of germplasm while incorporating aspects of intellectual property, biosecurity, health regulations, cultural significance, and international treaties or trade regulations.  

The special session is intended to initiate high-level discussions and interactions to synthesize insights from government agencies, industry, academia, and other stakeholders. It is organized into three sessions. The first looks into national needs and challenges; the second includes interactive activities to facilitate creation of national strategies, and the third includes group discussion on germplasm utilization, funding opportunities, and a call to action.