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Forecasting Contributions of Lake Whitefish Year‐Classes to a Lake Superior Commercial Fishery from Estimates of Yearling Abundance
Author(s) -
Curtis Gary L.,
Bronte Charles R.,
Selgeby James H.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
north american journal of fisheries management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.587
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1548-8675
pISSN - 0275-5947
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8675(1993)013<0349:fcolwy>2.3.co;2
Subject(s) - coregonus clupeaformis , fishery , coregonus , abundance (ecology) , fish <actinopterygii> , range (aeronautics) , environmental science , geography , biology , ecology , materials science , composite material
We developed a simple linear regression model to forecast year‐class contributions of lake whitefish Coregonus clupeaformis to the commercial harvest in the Apostle Islands region of Lake Superior. We indexed year‐class strength from catches of yearling fish in bottom trawl samples. Recruitment of each year‐class was measured by its relative abundance in the fishery at age 6. The relation between recruitment to the commercial fishery and year‐class strength indices was positive and significant ( r 2 = 0.67, P < 0.01). The model produced reliable estimates of recruitment to the fishery within the range of the regression. Projected recruitment of the 1983–1987 year‐classes to the fishery in 1989‐1993 should be sufficient to sustain current levels of harvest through 1993.