A perspective on positive relationships between genetic diversity and abundance in fishes

Given over 90 combined years in academic and professional activities related to genetics and fishery management (FU 57, JS 36—see Waples et al. 2008 ), we are pleased to provide an invited perspective generated by the interesting and useful article of McCusker & Bentzen (2010) . These authors reaffirm the apparent signature of neutrality of mitochondrial and microsatellite markers through an exhaustive analysis of archived genotypic data for 105 marine and freshwater fishes. They note that their conclusions are consistent with earlier and less comprehensive analyses and that they do not exclude the operation of some selective activity (e.g. genetic ‘draft’), which may be overwhelmed by N_e‐related stochastic processes. Here, we provide a complementary focus, recalling relevant issues related to neutrality and selection in applications of molecular variations in fishery management.