Richard D. Clark, Jr.
Institute for Fisheries Research
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Bin Huang
School of Natural Resources
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Abstract.-Hatchery-reared
lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) have been planted annually
in Lake Michigan since the mid-1960's. These planted fish now
support both sport and commercial fishing but have failed to reproduce
successfully. One concern is that the level of fishing has increased
to the point of threatening the goal of rehabilitating the stocks.
We developed a mathematical simulation model to study the interactions
between sport fishing, commercial fishing, and rehabilitation.
The model was derived from a conventional dynamic pool model,
but contains additional features which allow the analyst to simulate
the planting of variable numbers of yearling fish each year, to
compute the individual yields for sport and commercial fishing
groups who compete simultaneously for the same stock, to apply
a handling mortality factor to sublegal fish caught and released,
and to compute the number of fish remaining in the stock along
with their annual egg production. Our assessment focused on the
effect of exploitation by one fishing group on the yield of the
other group and on the effect of all fishing on the egg production
of the stock. The lake trout population in the Frankfort to Good
Harbor Bay area of the lake was used as a case study. The instantaneous
fishing mortality for the sport fishery was 0.15 from 1972 to
1975 and 0.22 from 1976 to 1978. The commercial fishery began
in 1979, and the combined fishing rate for sport and commercial
fishing was 0.42 from 1979 to1981. Mail survey estimates showed
a decline in sport catch of about 50% from 1978 to 1981 while
sport effort remained relatively constant. The model analysis
showed that competition from the commercial fishery was the most
likely reason for this decline in sport catch. If the combined
fishing mortality rate remains at 0.42, egg production will decrease
from a high of 45 million in 1978 to 20 million during the 1980's.
Tests of different fishing regulations showed that egg production
could not be substantially improved by imposing catch restrictions
on one fishing group and not the other. Many of the fish protected
did not survive to reproduce but were caught by the unrestricted
fishing group. Joint regulations benefited egg production a great
deal, but the restrictions necessary for successful rehabilitation
were severe. The survival rate of lake trout in their first year
of life was unknown, but simulations were conducted for selected
management schemes using a reasonable range of survival rates
from 0.05 to 0.005. Rehabilitation was defined for the simulations
as the production of 25,000 wild fish of age 4, the approximate
number now produced by stocking 100,000 yearlings. Only the complete
closure of both the sport and commercial fisheries allowed rehabilitation
to occur in less than 25 years for the entire range of first-year
survival rates. If the first-year survival rate was as high
as 0.01, rehabilitation occurred in less than 25 years when a
size limit of 711 mm was imposed on both fisheries and current
stocking rates were maintained. It also occurred in less than
25 years when a 660-mm size limit was imposed on both fisheries
and the stocking rates were doubled. If the first-year survival
rate was 0.05, rehabilitation occurred within 5 years, even if
no regulations were applied to either fishery. However, such a
high survival rate is probably too optimistic.