Genetic and ecological assessment of population rehabilitation: walleye in Lake Superior

Abstract

Sustainable management of exploited species is an ongoing challenge, particularly where populations have collapsed or been depleted by overharvest and habitat alteration. The walleye (Sander vitreus) population in Lake Superior's Black Bay historically supported more than 90% of the commercial walleye harvest from the entire lake, but collapsed in 1968 and has still not recovered despite long-term closure of the fishery. In an effort to rehabilitate this population, hatchery-origin walleye from exogenous sources were released into Black Bay between 2003 and 2005. We used individual-based analysis of genetic data collected between 2007 and 2010 to examine the contributions of different wild sources and hatchery stocking events to the contemporary walleye population in Black Bay. We found that 75% of the walleye in Black Bay originated from above- and below-barrier native populations in the Black Sturgeon River. The hatchery stocking events differed considerably in their effectiveness: the 2003 release of fry had no measurable contribution, whereas the 2004 and 2005 releases of fingerlings contributed 71% and 45% of the fish in their respective age classes. Hatchery and wild fish were similar in size, but hatchery fish rarely utilized the river habitat where Black Bay walleye historically spawned, and there was little genetic evidence of interbreeding or natural recruitment of stocked fish. Overall, our results suggest that restoring habitat connectivity to facilitate wild recruitment has greater potential than further exogenous stocking to contribute to the recovery of walleye in this system.