Lake Erie fish stocks are multi-million dollar resources that are vitally important to the commercial and sport fishing industries of four states (Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York) and the Province of Ontario. The abundance and the availability of these stocks for harvest has been altered by over-exploitation, habitat alteration, environmental degradation, and the influx of non-endemic species during the past century. Changes continue to occur, and resource management agencies must revise existing management strategies or develop new ones that protect, enhance, or rehabilitate fish stocks while allowing for sustained utilization. This project will provide the latest biological data to aid in fisheries management decisions. Information collected will be used by interagency task groups (e.g., Yellow Perch and Walleye Task Groups) who make recommendations (e.g., quota allocations) to the interagency Lake Erie Committee which in turn establishes management objectives for Lake Erie. The study is working to determine distribution, abundance, age composition, growth, and mortality for walleye, yellow perch, white perch, whitefish, and freshwater drum. It will also determine annual reproductive success of all important predator and prey fish species in western Lake Erie and define utilization of forage fish species by predators and determine the degree of competitive interaction among predators.

Progress as of 2000:

Abundance: In fall of 1996, relative abundances of are comparable or higher than 20-year average values. In summer of 1999, abundance of young-of-year (YOY) fish higher than 15-year average.

Growth: While abundances were slightly higher, growth of YOY was less than than the previous year in 1999 for most species, but it was comparable with 10-year average growth rates.

Diet: The summer and fall 1999 diets of yellow perch were dominated by fish and microbenthos, with mayflies in the fall dominating after an absence of nearly 30 years. (WEBLINK) Zooplankton were nearly absent from fall diet in 1999.

Lake Report: Surveillance and Status of Fish Stocks in Western Lake Erie, 2004