Gender- and Year-Specific Mortality of Yellow Perch with Evidence of Compensatory Mortality

Abstract

Gender- and year-specific survival (S) of yellow perch Perca flavescens, the tag recovery rate (f, i.e., the joint probability of a fish being harvested, the tag being recognized, and the tag being reported, corrected for tag loss and tagging mortality), and natural mortality (v) were estimated using Brownie tag recovery models. These models were constructed from 4 years of tagging and angler tag recovery data to determine whether mortality is additive or compensatory for the high- and low-quality yellow perch fishery types commonly found in eastern South Dakota glacial lakes. Natural mortality comprised the majority of total annual mortality, S was constant among years, and f was female-biased for both study populations. Survival and f did not vary among years for the low-quality population, providing inconclusive evidence of mortality function. However, a constant S coupled with annual changes in f and v (i.e., when harvest mortality increased, natural mortality decreased) suggests that mortality was compensatory for the high-quality population.

Received October 13, 2010; accepted March 3, 2011

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We would like to thank all of the South Dakota Game, Fish, and Parks personnel and students from South Dakota State University who contributed to this project. Manuscript review and improvement was provided by M. Allen, B. Blackwell, K. Koupal, D. Lucchesi, D. Willis, and three anonymous reviewers. Funding and support were provided by Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration administered by South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks, Federal Aid Project F-15-R, Study 1504.