Migrations of Adult and Juvenile Walleyes (Stizostedion vitreum vitreum) in Southern Lake Huron, Lake St. Clair, Lake Erie, and Connecting Waters

1971 ◽  
Vol 28 (8) ◽  
pp. 1133-1142 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. G. Ferguson ◽  
A. J. Derksen
Keyword(s):  
Lake Erie ◽  
Lake Huron ◽  
Stizostedion Vitreum ◽  
Western Basin ◽  
Reverse Migration ◽  
The North ◽  
Western Lake ◽  
Young Of The Year ◽  
Thames River ◽  
Western Lake Erie

Recoveries of walleyes (Stizostedion vitreum vitreum) tagged as adults and juveniles at various sites in waters from southern Lake Huron to eastern Lake Erie provided information on the migrations of the Thames River stock and the mixing of these fish with other stocks in the study area. Walleyes spawning in the Thames River in March and April quickly migrated into the St. Clair River and southern Lake Huron, where they mingled with other stocks, including some from Lake Erie. The return migration to the Thames River occurred between November and March. Juvenile walleyes tagged in Lake St. Clair, on the other hand, moved downriver to Lake Erie. Young-of-the-year fish tagged in western Lake Erie, many presumably of Lake St. Clair origin, provided evidence of a reverse migration, since they tended to move back into Lake St. Clair and Lake Huron as they matured. Adult walleyes tagged along the Canadian shore of Lake Erie migrated eastward during the summer, but were recovered in or near the western basin during the spawning season. Thus, western Lake Erie appeared as a juvenile milling or mixing area during the summer, whereas southern Lake Huron and the north shore of central and eastern Lake Erie were adult areas.

Walleye (Stizostedion vitreum vitreum) Fluctuations in the Great Lakes and Possible Causes, 1800–1975

1977 ◽  
Vol 34 (10) ◽  
pp. 1878-1889 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. C. Schneider ◽  
J. H. Leach
Keyword(s):  
Great Lakes ◽  
Lake Erie ◽  
Lake Superior ◽  
Lake Huron ◽  
Stizostedion Vitreum ◽  
Spawning Habitat ◽  
Green Bay ◽  
Western Lake ◽  
Foreign Species ◽  
Western Lake Erie

Changes in walleye (Stizostedion vitreum vitreum) stocks in the Great Lakes from 1800 to 1975 were linked to proliferation of foreign species of fish and culturally induced sources of stress — exploitation, nutrient loading, alteration of spawning habitat, and toxic materials. During the 1800s, three small spawning stocks (and probably many others) were damaged or destroyed because of either overfishing or elimination of spawning habitat through logging, pollution, or damming.During 1900–40, stocks in the Michigan waters of Lake Superior, southern Green Bay, the Thunder Bay River of Lake Huron, the North Channel of Lake Huron, and the New York waters of Lake Ontario declined gradually. Pollution, in general, and degradation of spawning habitat, in particular, probably caused three of the declines and overexploitation was suspected in two instances. In addition, the decline of three of these stocks occurred when rainbow smelt (Osmerus mordax) were increasing.During 1940–75, stocks in seven areas declined abruptly: Saginaw Bay (1944), northern Green Bay (1953), Muskegon River (mid-1950s), western Lake Erie (1955), Nipigon Bay (late 1950s), Bay of Quinte (1960), and Black Bay (mid-1960s). The decline of each stock was associated with a series of weak year-classes. The stocks were exposed to various sources of stress, including overexploitation, pollution, and interaction with foreign species, which, if not important in the decline, may be suppressing recovery. Only the western Lake Erie stock recovered, in part due to a reduction in exploitation and, possibly, because of the relatively low density of smelt and alewives (Alosa pseudoharengus) in the nursery areas.Relatively stable stocks persisted in five areas: Wisconsin waters of Lake Superior, Lake St. Clair — southern Lake Huron, eastern Lake Erie, northern Lake Huron, and parts of Georgian Bay. Pollution problems were relatively minor in these areas and exploitation was light during recent decades. Apparently these stocks were more capable of withstanding the additional stresses exerted by alien species. Key words: population fluctuations, Percidae, Stizostedion, Great Lakes walleye, history of fisheries, summary of stresses, harvests, management implications

scholarly journals Changes in Prey Fish Populations in Western Lake Erie, 1969–88, as Related to Walleye, Stizostedion vitreum, Predation

1993 ◽  
Vol 50 (6) ◽  
pp. 1289-1298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger L. Knight ◽  
Bruce Vondracek
Keyword(s):  
Species Composition ◽  
Lake Erie ◽  
Fish Community ◽  
Abundant Species ◽  
Stizostedion Vitreum ◽  
Alosa Pseudoharengus ◽  
Prey Fish ◽  
Western Basin ◽  
Western Lake ◽  
Western Lake Erie

Relative abundance of the total prey fish community in the western basin of Lake Erie varied little from 1969 to 1988, but species composition changed significantly. Soft-rayed fishes such as emerald shiner, Notropis atherinoides, spottail shiner, N. hudsonius, and alewife, Alosa pseudoharengus, declined significantly after 1977 whereas only one spiny-rayed species, white bass, Morone chrysops, declined over the same period. Trout-perch, Percopsis omiscomaycus, a relatively abundant species rarely eaten by piscivores in this system, experienced only minor shifts in abundance between 1969 and 1988. Although several factors could be responsible for the shift in species composition, predation by increasingly abundant walleye, Stizostedion vitreum, played a major role. Walleye prefer to eat soft-rayed fishes; thus, observed shifts in the community match expectations of selection noted in the diet. We suggest that management goals focusing primarily on walleye affected not only the targeted species but the entire fish community of western Lake Erie.

Limits to Growth of Young-of-the-Year Walleye (Stizostedion vitreum vitreum): An Individual-Based Model Perspective

1991 ◽  
Vol 48 (8) ◽  
pp. 1492-1499 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles P. Madenjian
Keyword(s):  
Lake Erie ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Encounter Rate ◽  
Stizostedion Vitreum ◽  
Prey Fish ◽  
Individual Based Model ◽  
Oneida Lake ◽  
Western Lake ◽  
Young Of The Year ◽  
Western Lake Erie

An individual-based model (IBM) accurately described the variation in growth exhibited between young-of-the-year (YOY) walleye (Stizostedion vitreum vitreum) cohorts from Oneida Lake (New York) and western Lake Erie. The IBM was used to develop a general explanation for the wide variability in growth exhibited by YOY walleye. Length of growing season and encounter rate, λ, between YOY walleye and the prey fish set the potential for growth in a particular aquatic system. Walleye spawning observations and observed YOY prey densities in Oneida Lake versus those for western Lake Erie corroborated these modeling results. Given a specific encounter rate and length of growing season, first-year growth of walleye was further controlled by size of prey fish relative to YOY walleye size, availability of prey fish throughout the summer and early fall months, and water temperature.

Environmental Factors Affecting the Strength of Walleye (Stizostedion vitreum vitreum) Year-Classes in Western Lake Erie, 1960–70

1975 ◽  
Vol 32 (10) ◽  
pp. 1733-1743 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wolf-Dieter N. Busch ◽  
Russell L. Scholl ◽  
Wilbur L. Hartman
Keyword(s):  
Water Level ◽  
Lake Erie ◽  
Stizostedion Vitreum ◽  
Low Oxygen ◽  
Brood Stock ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Spawning Area ◽  
Western Lake ◽  
Class Strength ◽  
Western Lake Erie

Commercial production of walleyes (Stizostedion vitreum vitreum) from western Lake Erie declined from 5.9 million pounds in 1956 to 140,000 pounds by 1969. Since 1956, marked irregularity in year-class success has developed. Only four year-classes were considered good during 1959–70. The rate and regularity of water warming during the spring spawning and incubation periods in 1960–70 had a positive effect on the density of egg deposits and the resulting year-class strength. Rates of warming were not themselves detrimental, but rather the extended length of the incubation period in cool springs increased the exposure of eggs to such negative influences as dislodgment from the spawning reefs by strong current action generated by spring storms, or siltation and low oxygen tensions. The annual brood stock size had much less influence on year-class strength than did water temperature. Reproductive success was unrelated to fluctuations in size of suitable reef spawning area caused by changes in water level. Apparently the usable spawning area at any water level is more than adequate to serve the limited walleye brood stocks.

Impacts of zebra mussel on walleye (Stizostedion vitreum) reproduction in western Lake Erie

1995 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 578-586 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. D. Fitzsimons ◽  
J. H. Leach ◽  
S. J. Nepszy ◽  
V. W. Cairns
Keyword(s):  
Zebra Mussel ◽  
Dreissena Polymorpha ◽  
Lake Erie ◽  
Egg Viability ◽  
Egg Deposition ◽  
Adverse Impacts ◽  
Western Lake ◽  
Young Of The Year ◽  
Total Coverage ◽  
Western Lake Erie

A walleye spawning shoal (Sunken Chicken Reef) in western Lake Erie was sampled during the spring of 1990 and 1991 to assess the abundance of the zebra mussel Dreissena polymorpha and to determine its impact on walleye reproduction. Mussel abundance ranged from 76 500/m2 at 1.5 m depth to 344 300/m2 at 4.5 m depth at the shoal (1990). Despite the almost total coverage of spawning beds walleye continued to spawn at the shoal, with no apparent effect of the mussels on egg deposition, egg viability, and interstitial dissolved oxygen. Although preinvasion data for walleye egg deposition are not comparable to data from this study, deposition appears adequate based on good indices of recruitment of young-of-the-year walleye derived from resource agency trawling during 1990 and 1991. Thus there appears to have been no adverse impacts of zebra mussel on walleye reproduction in western Lake Erie during 1990 and 1991.

Dynamics of the Recovery of the Western Lake Erie Walleye (Stizostedion vitreum vitreum) Stock

1987 ◽  
Vol 44 (S2) ◽  
pp. s15-s22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard W. Hatch ◽  
Stephen J. Nepszy ◽  
Kenneth M. Muth ◽  
Carl T. Baker
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Maturity ◽  
Lake Erie ◽  
Standing Stock ◽  
Management Plan ◽  
Commercial Fishing ◽  
Stizostedion Vitreum ◽  
Central Basin ◽  
Western Lake ◽  
Quota Management ◽  
Western Lake Erie

After its 1957 collapse under intensive fishing and environmental stresses, the walleye (Stizostedion vitreum vitreum) stock of western Lake Erie remained low throughout the 1960s. A moratorium on both sport and commercial fishing, resulting from the 1970 discovery of mercury concentrations in walleye flesh, provided an opportunity for the development of an international interagency management plan. The quota management plan developed depended on sequential projection of the fishable stock on the basis of estimated annual recruitment and reports of total withdrawals from the stock. The fishery reopened gradually and quota management (including allocation among jurisdictions) was implemented in 1976. The stock, which had been gradually increasing as a result of relatively strong year-classes produced in 1970, 1972, and 1974, responded well to limited exploitation and produced a record year-class in 1977. Quotas were exceeded in 1978–80, but the stock continued to improve to the extent that the recommended rate of exploitation was increased in 1980 and again in 1981. As the population expanded, growth began to decline; the decline became apparent in young-of-the-year in the early 1970s and in older walleyes in the late 1970s. This trend toward progressively slower growth, which continued in the 1977 and subsequent year-classes, was accompanied by an increase in length at sexual maturity and a decrease in the percentage of female walleyes reaching sexual maturity at age III. As a net result of these changes, the proportion of mature females in the stock (an index of stock fecundity) decreased slightly during the interval 1975–84, while the estimated biomass of the standing stock rose from 9 000 to nearly 26 000 t. Both sport and commercial catches increased markedly after 1980 in Lake Erie's central basin.

Removal of algae by the zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) population in western Lake Erie: a bioenergetics approach

1995 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 381-390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles P. Madenjian
Keyword(s):  
Primary Production ◽  
Water Column ◽  
Zebra Mussel ◽  
Dreissena Polymorpha ◽  
Lake Erie ◽  
Mussel Population ◽  
Western Basin ◽  
Bioenergetics Model ◽  
Western Lake ◽  
Western Lake Erie

A bioenergetics model for growth of a zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) individual was verified with observations on zebra mussel growth in western Lake Erie. The bioenergetics model was then applied to the zebra mussel population in the western basin of Lake Erie to estimate the removal of phytoplankton by mussels. According to the modeling results, the zebra mussel population consumed 5.0 million tonnes of phytoplankton, while 1.4 million tonnes of phytoplankton was deposited in pseudofeces from the mussels. Thus, a total of 6.4 ± 2.4 million tonnes of phytoplankton was removed from the water column by zebra mussel in western Lake Erie during 1990. Primary production was estimated to be 24.8 million tonnes; therefore, zebra mussel removed the equivalent of 26 ± 10% of the primary production for western Lake Erie.

The formation and evolution of Point Pelee, western Lake Erie

1976 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 136-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. P. Coakley
Keyword(s):  
Lake Erie ◽  
Present Position ◽  
Lake Levels ◽  
Western Basin ◽  
Beach Ridges ◽  
Western Lake ◽  
Formation And Evolution ◽  
Position And Orientation ◽  
Point Pelee ◽  
Western Lake Erie

Point Pelee originated as a sandy foreland enclosing a marsh approximately 4000 years BP. A reconstruction of paleoenvironmental conditions prior to that time suggests strongly that it was formed initially by the progressive merging of beach ridges and dunes formed on opposite sides of the Pelee-Lorain moraine when rising lake levels in the western basin of Lake Erie were 3 to 4 m below present lake datum (173.4 m above sea level). Since that time, it has retreated to its present position and orientation under the influence of slowly rising lake levels and increasing wave energy from both sides.Such an evolution, though different from conventional mechanisms of spit formation, is supported by evidence derived from the local post glacial stratigraphy and the geomorphology of relict features preserved on the Point and on the shoal area to the south.

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