Understanding fishing fleet dynamics is important when using fishery dependent data to infer the status of fish stocks. We analyzed data from mandatory catch reports from the commercial lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) fishery in Michigan waters of Lake Superior during 1929–1961, a period when lake trout populations collapsed through the combined effects of overfishing and sea lamprey (Petromy...

Catch curves have been used to estimate survival and instantaneous mortality for fish and wildlife populations for many years. In order to better analyze catch curve data from the Apostle Islands population lake trout Salvelinus namaycush in Lake Superior, we develop a Bayesian approach to catch curve analysis. First, the proposed Bayesian approach is illustrated for a single catch curve and th...

Most salmonid taxa have an anadromous life history strategy, whereby fish migrate to saltwater habitats for a growth period before returning to freshwater habitats for spawning. Moreover, several species are characterized by different life history tactics whereby resident and anadromous forms may occur in genetically differentiated populations within a same species, as well as polymorphism with...

—Although stocking for sport fishery enhancement has been practiced by resource managers for decades, the potential genetic effects of these stocking practices have remained largely unknown. We investigated the genetic contributions of stocking lake trout Salvelinus namaycush in two inland lakes in Wisconsin (Trout and Black Oak lakes in Vilas County), which represent the only known indigenous ...

Abstract Density dependence is a strong regulator of animal populations, operating primarily through intraspecific competition for limiting resource. Because food generally limited in natural environments, it typically assumed that increasing density leads to reduced individual fitness depletion or monopolization. However, recent work demonstrates can occur without apparent depletion, with virt...