title: Rapidly shifting maturation schedules following reduced commercial harvest in a freshwater fish.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Purdue University West Lafayette, IN, USA.
authors.forename: Zachary S
authors.initials: ZS
authors.lastname: Feiner
authors.affiliation: Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources Sault Ste. Marie, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Stephen C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Chong
authors.affiliation: Division of Wildlife, Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Fairport Fish Research Station Fairport Harbor, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Carey T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Knight
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Ball State University Muncie, IN, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Lauer
authors.affiliation: Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Lake St. Clair Fisheries Research Station Harrison Township, Mt. Clemons, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Michael V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.affiliation: Division of Wildlife, Sandusky Fisheries Research Unit, Ohio Department of Natural Resources Sandusky, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Jeffrey T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Tyson
authors.affiliation: Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Purdue University West Lafayette, IN, USA ; Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant, Purdue University West Lafayette, IN, USA.
authors.forename: Tomas O
authors.initials: TO
authors.lastname: Höök
keywords: Bayesian modeling; eco-evolutionary dynamics; fisheries management; fisheries-induced evolution; life history trait