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Sources of Walleye Recruitment in Saginaw Bay, Lake Huron
Author(s) -
Fielder David G.
Publication year - 2002
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(2002)022<1032:sowris>2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - bay , stizostedion , fishery , reef , hatchery , habitat , population , fish <actinopterygii> , environmental science , oceanography , biology , ecology , geology , demography , sociology
Historically, the fishery for walleyes Stizostedion vitreum in Saginaw Bay was among the largest in the Great Lakes, second only to that of Lake Erie, but it collapsed in 1944 because of a series of year‐class failures attributed to degradation of spawning habitat and declines in water quality. I determined the condition and use of reef habitat by spawning walleyes (thought to be historically important for reproduction) and the contributions to recruitment by hatchery walleyes, which were stocked as fingerlings beginning in the early 1980s. Reef surveys confirmed that nearly all inner bay reefs were of low quality, apparently degraded by sedimentation. Reef habitat quality in the outer portion of the bay and two marginal reefs in the southeastern portion of the bay was reasonably good, but the reefs were used only sparsely by walleyes. Oxytetracycline‐marked hatchery fish composed an average of 79% of the locally produced recruits of the 1997, 1998, and 1999 year‐classes. I concluded that the modern population (excluding immigrants) of walleyes in Saginaw Bay is composed of a combination of wild fish from tributary spawning and hatchery fish, with the latter contributing the majority.