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. 2015 Aug;8(7):724-37.
doi: 10.1111/eva.12285. Epub 2015 Jul 16.

Rapidly shifting maturation schedules following reduced commercial harvest in a freshwater fish

Zachary S Feiner  1 , Stephen C Chong  2 , Carey T Knight  3 , Thomas E Lauer  4 , Michael V Thomas  5 , Jeffrey T Tyson  6 , Tomas O Höök  7
Affiliations

Rapidly shifting maturation schedules following reduced commercial harvest in a freshwater fish

Zachary S Feiner et al. Evol Appl. 2015 Aug.

Abstract

Size-selective harvest of fish stocks can lead to maturation at smaller sizes and younger ages, which may depress stock productivity and recovery. Such changes in maturation may be very slow to reverse, even following complete fisheries closures. We evaluated temporal trends in maturation of five Great Lakes stocks of yellow perch (Perca flavescens Mitchill) using indices that attempt to disentangle plastic and evolutionary changes in maturation: age at 50% maturity and probabilistic maturation reaction norms (PMRNs). Four populations were fished commercially throughout the time series, while the Lake Michigan fishery was closed following a stock collapse. We documented rapid increases in PMRNs of the Lake Michigan stock coincident with the commercial fishery closure. Saginaw Bay and Lake Huron PMRNs also increased following reduced harvest, while Lake Erie populations were continuously fished and showed little change. The rapid response of maturation may have been enhanced by the short generation time of yellow perch and potential gene flow between northern and southern Lake Michigan, in addition to potential reverse adaptation following the fishing moratorium. These results suggest that some fish stocks may retain the ability to recover from fisheries-induced life history shifts following fishing moratoria.

Keywords: Bayesian modeling; eco-evolutionary dynamics; fisheries management; fisheries-induced evolution; life history trait.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Patterns of (A) female and (B) male age at 50% maturity (A50) versus mean length at age 2 for yellow perch from Lake Michigan, central Lake Erie, western Lake Erie, Lake Huron, and Saginaw Bay (different colors and symbols) from 1980 to 2000 (Michigan, Erie, and Huron) or 1960 to 2000 (Saginaw Bay). Symbols are increasingly shaded from oldest (lightest; 1980 or 1960, respectively) to most recent (darkest; 2000) decadal observation and solid lines link symbols in temporal sequence. Error bars represent 95% credible intervals of each A50 or mean length estimate. Dashed line represents global regression line. Note that the regression for male A50 (panel B) included data from Lake Michigan, central Lake Erie, and western Lake Erie only, as estimates from Lake Huron and Saginaw Bay were limited to fewer decades because of data limitations. Lake Huron estimates are shown for illustration in panel B.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Total commercial harvest (×1000 kg; filled gray area) and temporal trends in the midpoints of PMRNs (Lp50,a; points and lines) for different ages of female yellow perch in (A) Lake Michigan, (B) central Lake Erie, (C) western Lake Erie, (D) Lake Huron, and (E) Saginaw Bay. Points for PMRNs are placed at the end of their respective decade (e.g. points corresponding to data from 1980 to 1989 are placed at 1990). Points for different ages are offset on the x-axis by 0.5 years for clarity. Note different secondary y-axis scales for commercial catch for each plot. The Lake Michigan commercial fishery was closed in 1997, and commercial harvest data for Lake Huron and Saginaw Bay were only available through 2007 and 2006, respectively. Commercial harvest data taken from Yellow Perch Task Group (YPTG) (1989, 1994, 2006, 2014), and Baldwin et al. (2009).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Total commercial harvest (×1000 kg; filled gray area) and temporal trends in the midpoints of PMRNs (Lp50,a; points and lines) for different ages of male yellow perch in (A) Lake Michigan, (B) central Lake Erie, (C) western Lake Erie, (D) Lake Huron, and (E) Saginaw Bay. Points for PMRNs are placed at the end of their respective decade (e.g. points corresponding to data from 1980 to 1989 are placed at 1990). Points for different ages are offset on the x-axis by 0.5 years for clarity. Note different secondary y-axis scales for commercial harvest for each plot. The Lake Michigan commercial fishery was closed in 1997, and commercial harvest data for Lake Huron and Saginaw Bay were only available through 2007 and 2006, respectively. Commercial harvest data taken from Yellow Perch Task Group (YPTG) (1989, 1994, 2006, 2014), and Baldwin et al. (2009).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Comparison of trends in the height and slope of female yellow perch PMRNs from (A) Lake Michigan, where the commercial fishery was closed in 1997, and (B) central Lake Erie, where fishing has continued throughout the study period. Different symbols represent different decades (1980s, 1990s, and 2000s), and error bars represent 95% credible intervals of posterior distributions. Points are offset on the x-axis by 0.1 years for clarity.
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