F-81-R-9, Study 230460 - 1
F-81-R-9, MichiganRevised: 2007-08
Study 230460New Study: 1989-90
Name of Study:Dynamics of the Lake Erie walleye and yellow perch populations and fisheries
A.Problem:Walleye and yellow perch are the most valuable fishery resources in the lower Great Lakes, where they contribute substantially to harvests in Michigan (sport), Ohio (sport), and Ontario (commercial and sport).These species exhibit wide fluctuations in reproductive success, which strongly influences their adult density, growth, mortality, predation rate on forage base and so forth.It is known that the same walleye move extensively throughout the different jurisdictions where they are subject to fishery harvest.There are interagency agreements, through the Great Lakes Fishery Commission (GLFC), to conduct annual surveys of Lake Erie walleye and yellow perch stocks and fisheries.These annual samples are critical to the production of the data pool and statistics necessary to model population dynamics, and to eventually determine harvest quotas.Survey data are shared and analyzed through the various working groups of the GLFC's Lake Erie Committee (see annual reports since 1978).
B.Objective:To carry out annual surveys of walleye and yellow perch populations and fisheries, providing the data necessary for annually updating fish population models used to develop interagency (Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Ontario, and Michigan)harvest quotas for walleye and yellow perch in Lake Erie.
C.Justification:Walleye and yellow perch support extremely valuable sport and commercial fisheries in the Lake Erie waters of Ontario, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Michigan.Preliminary walleye harvest estimates since 1988 indicate that an average of 6.5 million fish have been caught each year.While separate walleye stocks are probably involved, tagging and genetic studies have shown that they all move extensively throughout the interagency management area.Successful management depends upon consistent annual assessment of population structure and harvest, as well as finding adequate age-structured modeling techniques for predicting future standing stocks and desirable harvest rates.Annual sampling has been conducted by the five agencies since 1978 (see Ohio DJ, F-35-R-26; Pennsylvania DJ, F-62-R) and results pooled to establish long-term data sets for modeling.Considerable fluctuation in reproductive success and population abundance has been observed for both walleye and yellow perch.At present, there is little known about the effects of environmental variation on walleye and yellow perch reproductive success, and, therefore, no suitable means exists to predict future year class strength from broodstock estimates.Annual surveys of young-of-year and yearlings are needed by each agency to produce estimates for their recruitment into catchable stocks at ages 2 and 3.Recruitment estimates will be combined with model predictions of adult stocks to set quotas.All survey data and analyses will be shared with other fisheries management agencies to meet interagency commitments.
D.Expected Results and Benefits:Results from this study will supply annual Lake Erie fishery data required under Michigan’s cooperative agreements with Ontario, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York through the international Great Lakes Fishery Commission (GLFC).Fishing effort, harvest, and population status information will be collected on walleye, yellow perch, and a number of other predator and forage fish species and will then be contributed to international databases being maintained through the GLFC. Annual reports will be generated that describe the status of important angling fisheries on Michigan’s waters of Lake Erie and related fish population resources.Adult spawning walleye will be tagged each spring, in conjunction with Ohio, New York, and Ontario tagging projects, to track movements of walleye and to monitor their harvest and mortality.This information is critical to efficient and successful management of shared Lake Erie fishery resources, and future changes in Michigan’s sport fish regulations will be based on it.
E.Background:This is a proposal to extend walleye and yellow perch monitoring with surveys that have been carried out since 1978.A number of studies have been published on various aspects of Lake Erie walleye and yellow perch biology and management (Nepszy 1977, Busch et al. 1975, Parsons 1970, Wolfert 1963, Knight et al. 1984, Shuter and Koonce 1977, Shuter et al. 1979).Survey data from Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ontariohave been reported annually by the GLFC's Lake Erie Committee.However, neither methodology nor published data are available for adequately predicting future recruitment and harvest.Therefore, walleye and yellow perch population dynamics (growth, mortality, and exploitation) must be monitored annually to provide parameters required as model inputs and information for evaluation of management actions and validation of predictions from population models.
F.Procedure:These Lake Erie walleye and yellow perch index surveys will provide data on age structure, growth rates, mortality rates, exploitation rates, and recruitment of yearling and older fish into the catchable population.These are a continuation of annual surveys that have been carried out by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources since 1978.They will be augmented by a Lake Erie creel survey (Michigan F-81-R, Study 230499) which will provide estimates of angler effort and catch by age group.
Job 1.Survey design and coordination:Coordinate survey efforts with management unit staff and staff from other agencies.Collaborate with other agencies in survey design. Participate in the Scientific Technical Committee, and the Walleye, Yellow Perch, Interagency Trawl Indexing, Interagency Indexing, Statistics and Modeling, and Forage Task Groups whose goal is to model the walleye and yellow perch populations, and ultimately the entire fish community.
Job 2.Conduct surveys and process samples:Set 5 survey trap nets in Lake Erie, off Monroe, during April to capture walleye, yellow perch, and other species. Trap net survey gear and methods are described in Thomas and Haas (2005).Collect age and growth data from walleye, yellow perch, and associated species.Tag walleye as part of interagency program to estimate stock interactions and rates of exploitation and natural mortality.Capture, tag, and release walleye in the HuronRiver, near Flat Rock, Michigan using electro-fishing gear, to increase the number of tagged walleye at-large and improve estimates of exploitation and natural mortality.Spring sampling in the HuronRiver is largely dependent on weather and stream conditions, which can prevent sampling in some years. Carry out fall gill-net sampling at two stations (at least two net lifts per index station) to develop an index of abundance of yearling walleye.Gill-net survey gear and methods are described in Thomas and Haas (2005).Collect age and growth data on all age groups of walleye and abundance and length data for other species.Process scale and spine samples collected from walleye and yellow perch during surveys for age estimation.
Job 3.Manage data and maintain databases:Collect walleye tag recovery data from cooperating sport and commercial fishermen and provide individual responses with tagging information. Combine all tag data from cooperating agencies to estimate exploitation and natural mortality to improve and validate quota modeling.Update catch at age datasets for walleye and yellow perch from creel and gill net surveys.Provide data files and summaries to cooperating agencies involved in Lake Erie management.Share gill net catch at age data with cooperating agencies to estimate recruitment into adult population.
Job 4.Analyze data:Analyze yellow perch and walleye age and growth data collected during spring trap-net sampling and electro-fishing.Analyze walleye age and growth data collected during fall gill-net sampling.Summarize walleye tag recovery data and analyze with the ESTIMATE computer model (Brownie et al. 1985) to produce year-specific estimates of mortality and exploitation.Participate in annual work by LEC Walleye Task Group and Yellow Perch Task Group to model the populations and produce harvest quota estimates for both Percidae species.
Job 5.Write annual performance report.
Job 6.Write other reports.Data and analyses from this study may also be used to prepare reports to the Great Lakes Fishery Commission (annual lake committee status reports, state-of-the-lake, etc.), MDNR Fisheries Research Reports, or manuscripts for publication in scientific journals.
Job 7.ANRE (Evaluate adequacy, necessity, reliability and efficiency of survey):Survey designs and data management procedures will be evaluated to make sure study objectives are met and data are collected efficiently and are reliable.Procedures will be evaluated in terms of adequacy, necessity, reliability, and efficiency.
G.Schedule/Budget1:
Proposed work / 2007-08 / 2008-09 / 2009-10 / 2010-11 / 2011-12Job 1 / Survey design and coordination / 8,407 / 8,827 / 9,268 / 9,731 / 10,218
Job 2 / Conduct surveys and process samples / 76,548 / 80,375 / 84,394 / 88,614 / 93,045
Job 3 / Manage data - maintain databases / 27,444 / 28,816 / 30,257 / 31,770 / 33,359
Job 4 / Analyze data / 13,297 / 13,962 / 14,660 / 15,393 / 16,163
Job 5 / Write annual performance report / 2,388 / 2,507 / 2,632 / 2,764 / 2,902
Job 6 / Write other reports / 5,870 / 6,164 / 6,472 / 6,796 / 7,136
Job 7 / ANRE / NA / NA / NA / NA / 2,897
Associated travel and other expenses / 9,666 / 10,149 / 10,656 / 11,189 / 11,748
Totals / 143,620 / 150,800 / 158,339 / 166,257 / 177,468
1NA = not scheduled
H.Geographical Location:Lake Erie study location for the spring trap-net survey is approximately 2 miles east of Monroe, Michigan and 1-3 miles south of the mouth of the Raisin River.Fall gill-net stations are located 2 miles east of Stoney Point and 1 mile east of WoodtickPeninsula.The data analyses and report writing will be performed at the Lake St. Clair Fisheries Research Station in HarrisonTownship, a facility of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
I.Personnel:Michael V. Thomas, Fisheries Research Biologist; Robert C. Haas, Biologist In Charge, Lake St. Clair Fisheries Research Station; Staff of the Lake St. Clair Fisheries Research Station; Research Administrative personnel.
Literature Cited:
Brownie, C., D. R. Anderson, K. P. Burnham, and D. S. Robson.1985.Statistical inference from band recovery data--A handbook (2nd edition).U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, Resource Publication No. 156, Washington, D.C.
Busch, W. D. N., R. L. Scholl, and W. L. Hartman.1975.Environmental factors affecting the strength of walleye year classes in western Lake Erie, 1969-1970.Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada 34:1039-1041.
Knight, R. L., F. J. Margraf, and R. F. Carline.1984.Piscivory by walleyes and yellow perch in western Lake Erie.Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 113:677-693.
Nepszy, S. J.1977.Change in percid populations and species interactions in Lake Erie.Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada 34:1861-1868.
Parsons, J. W.1970.Walleye fishery of Lake Erie in 1943-62 with emphasis on contributions of the 1942-61 year classes.Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada 27:1475-1489.
Shuter, B. J., and J. F. Koonce.1977.A dynamic model of the Western Lake Erie walleye (Stizostedion vitreum vitreum) population.Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada 34:1972-1982.
Shuter, B. J., J. F. Koonce, and H. A. Regier.1979.Modeling the western Lake Erie walleye population: a feasibility study.Great LakesFisheries Commission, Technical Report No. 32, 40 pp.
Thomas, M. V., and R. C. Haas. 2005.Status of walleye and yellow perch in Michigan waters of Lake Erie, 1999-2003.Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Fisheries Research Report 2082, Ann Arbor.
Wolfert, D. R.1963.The movement of walleyes tagged as yearlings in Lake Erie.Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 92:414-420.