Incidence of Sport Fishes in the Commercial Fish Catch from Kentucky Lake, Kentucky and Tennessee

Abstract

On-board observers accompanied commercial fishermen on Kentucky Lake and recorded the occurrences of sport fishes in gill-net, bait-line, and hoop-net catches. Sport fishes constituted 0.5% of the total catch on bait lines, 0.1% in hoop nets, and 3.9% in gill nets. The most common incidental sport species caught were freshwater drum Aplodinotus grunniens and small yellow bass Morone mississippiensis on bait lines and sunfishes Lepomis spp. in hoop nets. The percentage of sport fishes in gill nets decreased as mesh size increased. Sauger Stizostedion canadense and white crappie Pomoxis annularis were the most common species in gill nets and constituted 92% of the incidental sport-fish catch. We estimated an incidental sport-fish catch in gill nets of 2.1 fish/1,000 m of net, whereas commercial fishermen reported 0.7 fish/1,000 m. On the basis of our estimates of incidental catches from all commercial gears, we concluded that the capture of sport fishes at the extant fishing intensity did not pose a threat to sport-fish populations.