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

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 Gr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Evolutionary applications 2015-08, Vol.8 (7), p.724-737
Main Authors: Feiner, Zachary S., Chong, Stephen C., Knight, Carey T., Lauer, Thomas E., Thomas, Michael V., Tyson, Jeffrey T., Höök, Tomas O.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age
Bayesian modeling
Commercial fishing
eco‐evolutionary dynamics
Evolution
Fish
Fisheries management
fisheries‐induced evolution
Fishing
Freshwater
Gene flow
Life history
life history trait
Maturation
Mortality
Natural resources
Original
Perca flavescens
Population
Sport fishing
Studies
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Summary: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.
ISSN:1752-4571
1752-4571
DOI:10.1111/eva.12285