Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

SS40 Long-Term Research Programs in the Twenty-first Century (Spatial and Temporal Connections)

Date: Thursday, February 15, 2001, Time: 11:45:00 AM

Location: Ruidoso/Pecos

Curtis, G, L, USGS-Great Lakes Science Center, Ann Arbor, USA, gary_curtis@usgs.gov

O'Gorman, R, , USGS-Great Lakes Science Center, Lake Ontario Biological Station, Oswego, USA, robert_o'gorman

Fleischer, G, W, USGS-Great Lakes Science Center, Ann Arbor, USA,

Gorman, O, T, USGS-Great Lakes Science Center, Lake Superior Biological Station, Ashland, USA, owen_gorman@usgs.gov

Bur, M, T, USGS-Great Lakes Science Center, Lake Erie Biological Station, Sandusky, USA, michael_bur@usgs.gov

FISH STOCK ASSESSMENT IN THE GREAT LAKES: PROVIDING CURRENT INFORMATION WHILE CONDUCTING LONG-TERM RESEARCH

The USGS Great Lakes Science Center has conducted annual surveys of the fish communities in the five Great Lakes for nearly 30 years. The information on fish stocks these surveys provide is highly valued by fishery managers for making real-time decisions. In most of the Great Lakes, valuable populations of piscivorous salmon and trout are artificially maintained by stocking. Knowing the status of prey fishes allows managers to adjust stocking rates to maintain the precarious piscivore-prey balance or anticipate changes in wild populations. The long-term information on fish stocks that annual surveys provide is required for building models used to evaluate long-range consequences of management actions. Also, because of high inter-annual variability, long-term data are required to recognize the effects of changes in the ecosystems such as establishment of exotic species. For example, the shift in depth distribution of fishes in Lake Ontario that followed proliferation of exotic dreissenid mussels may not have been recognized without multi-year records of fish distribution. Annual surveys yield short-term tactical benefits and garner the support needed to maintain long-term research in the Great Lakes.

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Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

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