Sustainable fisheries management in the Great Lakes: Scientific and operational challenges

Fisheries managers seek to sustain Great Lakes' fish populations in a large, complex lake‐watershed ecosystem responding to often competing issues: non‐indigenous species, resource allocation and environmental quality. Within the past 200 years, human activity has caused dramatic changes in the character of this ecosystem. Before the 1900s, the offshore fish communities in each of the Great Lakes were dominated by the piscivorous lake trout and burbot. The current fish fauna of the Great Lakes' basin includes 179 species representing 29 families in 18 orders and two classes of fish. Twenty‐five non‐indigenous fish species have established populations in the Great Lakes' ecosystem. Sustainable management of Great Lakes' fisheries depends on social, economic and ecological factors. Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent annually to protect and preserve Great Lakes' fisheries and their associated ecosystems. Management of Great Lakes' fisheries on a species‐by‐species basis is pointless. Recreational fishing provides larger economic benefits on the Great Lakes, compared to commercial fisheries. Further, quota management, even when practiced at levels well below maximum sustainable yield, does not lead to stable fish communities. Management will be constrained more by ecological reality than by economic forces, but ultimately a managed system comprised of both indigenous and non‐indigenous fishes is a logical objective.