Cobia is a popular recreational fishery, and the species gathers in large numbers in high-salinity estuaries on the Atlantic coast and the Gulf of Mexico to spawn, including Port Royal Sound in South Carolina. Heavy fishing pressure in inshore waters has reduced the population in the past two decades, prompting harvest restrictions and seasonal closures of the fishery.
S.C. Department of Natural Resources grows hatchery broodstock for a cobia stock enhancement program.
This project aims to improve the success of stock enhancement by determining the sex ratio of wild populations through a non-lethal and minimally invasive identification tool. The research goal is to use next generation sequencing to develop a sex-linked DNA marker for cobia and use that information to assess the genetic health and hatchery contribution to cobia in South Carolina.