A general, life history based model for regional management of fish stocks: the inland lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) fisheries of Ontario

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Abstract

Life history characteristics of 54 Ontario lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) populations vary with differences in lake area (range 25-450 000 ha) and total dissolved solids (TDS) (range 15-180 mg·L -1 ). Populations from large lakes exhibit greater maximum sizes, greater ages and sizes at first maturity, lower natural mortality rates, and lower sustainable yields. Populations from high-TDS lakes exhibit higher growth rates in early life, lower ages at first maturity, larger sizes at first maturity, and higher natural mortality rates. Angler catchability increases significantly at low population densities. With these relationships included in an age-structured population model, we found that the fishing mortality rate at maximum equilibrium yield ranges from 0.12·year -1 for a 100-ha, low-TDS lake to 0.37·year -1 for a 10 000-ha, high-TDS lake; the fishing effort level at maximum equilibrium yield ranges from 6.6 angler-h·ha -1 · year -1 for a 100-ha, low-TDS lake to 4.0 angler-h·ha -1 ·year -1 for a 10 000-ha, high-TDS lake. Populations from small, low-TDS lakes are more sensitive to overexploitation than populations from large, high-TDS lakes. Easily measured, environmental correlates of life history characters may be common among fish species and are useful in developing exploitation guidelines for populations that are not well studied.

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