Stock structure and interactions of Lake Whitefish in Grand Traverse Bay and adjacent areas of Lake Michigan

Grant: # 1885

Grant Amount: $465,592.00

Board Decision Year: 2020

U.S. Geological Survey - Great Lakes Science Center (Ann Arbor)

Great Lakes Science Center

Hondorp, Darryl (dhondorp@usgs.gov) 734-214-9324

2020 Ecosystem Health and Sustainable Fish Populations: Ecological and Biological Research to Inform Management - Ecological and biological fisheries research to inform management

Project Summary

Management of Lake Whitefish harvest in Lake Michigan assumes that different stocks do not mix during the fishing season, but validation of this assumption has been difficult using conventional mark-recapture studies. Therefore, in this study, year-round acoustic tracking of 200 individual Lake Whitefish was used to describe stock-specific movement patterns, which will help fishery managers improve estimates of stock abundance that are used to recommend harvest levels.