Management of Alewife Using Pacific Salmon in the Great Lakes: Whether to Manage for Economics or the Ecosystem?

ABSTRACT The combined destructive effects of overfishing, habitat destruction, and invasive species, especially alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) and sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) led to the loss of the native top predator lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) from most of the Great Lakes by 1960. Alewife populations then exploded, creating nuisance die-offs. Public demands for action, coupled with control of sea lamprey, allowed fishery managers to consider stocking Pacific salmon to control alewife and establish a recreational fishery. This effort was successful, reducing alewife numbers and creating a recreational fishery that is estimated at $7 billion annually. This fishery management regime may no longer be viable as new invasive species continue to alter the ecosystem. Fishery managers face an interesting dilemma: whether to manage in the short term for a popular and economically important sport fishery or to embrace ecosystem change and manage primarily for native fish species that appear to be better...

[1]  Stanford H. Smith.  Species Interactions of the Alewife in the Great Lakes , 1970 .

[2]  E. Brown.  Population biology of alewives, Alosa pseudoharengus, in Lake Michigan, 1949-70 , 1972 .

[3]  J. G. I. Lark.  An Early Record of the Sea Lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) From Lake Ontario , 1973 .

[4]  Density, growth, and change in density of coho salmon and rainbow trout in three Lake Michigan tributaries , 1983 .

[5]  Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) density, growth, mortality, and movement in two Lake Michigan tributaries , 1984 .

[6]  D. Mason,et al.  Predation by Alewives on Larvae of Yellow Perch in Lake Ontario , 1987 .

[7]  P. Ihssen,et al.  Allozyme Variation of Great Lakes Alewife, Alosa pseudoharengus: Genetic Differentiation and Affinities of a Recent Invader , 1992 .

[8]  C. Krueger,et al.  Predation by Alewives on Lake Trout Fry in Lake Ontario: Role of an Exotic Species in Preventing Restoration of a Native Species , 1995 .

[9]  James W. Peck,et al.  Lake Trout (Salvelinus namaycush) Populations in Lake Superior and Their Restoration in 1959–1993 , 1995 .

[10]  C. P. Madenjian.  Removal of algae by the zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) population in western Lake Erie: a bioenergetics approach , 1995 .

[11]  V. Palace,et al.  Thiamine and early mortality syndrome in lake trout. , 1998 .

[12]  K. Smith,et al.  Chinook Salmon Epizootics in Lake Michigan: Possible Contributing Factors and Management Implications , 1998 .

[13]  James R. Bence,et al.  Dynamics of the Lake Michigan food web, 1970-2000 , 2002 .

[14]  Chris Goddard,et al.  Sea Lamprey International Symposium (SLIS II): Advances in the Integrated Management of Sea Lamprey in the Great Lakes , 2003 .

[15]  Joseph F. Koonce,et al.  The Sea Lamprey in Lake Erie: a Case History , 2003 .

[16]  L. Crowder.  Ecological and morphological shifts in Lake Michigan fishes: glimpses of the ghost of competition past , 1986, Environmental Biology of Fishes.

[17]  R. A. Daniels.  Untested Assumptions: The Role of Canals in the Dispersal of Sea Lamprey, Alewife, and other Fishes in the Eastern United States , 2001, Environmental Biology of Fishes.

[18]  William D. Taylor,et al.  The nearshore phosphorus shunt: a consequence of ecosystem engineering by dreissenids in the Laurentian Great Lakes , 2004 .

[19]  L. Crowder.  Alewife, rainbow smelt and native fishes in Lake Michigan: competition or predation? , 1980, Environmental Biology of Fishes.

[20]  J. T. Lehman.  Palearctic predator invades North American Great Lakes , 1987, Oecologia.

[21]  K. Scribner,et al.  Patterns of invasion and colonization of the sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) in North America as revealed by microsatellite genotypes , 2005, Molecular ecology.

[22]  D. Tillitt,et al.  Thiamine Status in Adult Salmonines in the Great Lakes , 2005 .

[23]  J. L. Zajicek,et al.  Thiamine and Thiaminase Status in Forage Fish of Salmonines from Lake Michigan , 2005 .

[24]  D. Mason,et al.  Recruitment Variability of Alewives in Lake Michigan , 2005 .

[25]  J. L. Zajicek,et al.  Development of Thiamine Deficiencies and Early Mortality Syndrome in Lake Trout by Feeding Experimental and Feral Fish Diets Containing Thiaminase , 2005 .

[26]  C. P. Madenjian,et al.  Long-term changes of the Lake Michigan fish community following the reduction of exotic alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) , 2006 .

[27]  C. P. Madenjian,et al.  Changes in seasonal energy dynamics of alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) in Lake Michigan after invasion of dreissenid mussels , 2006 .

[28]  S. Peacor,et al.  Large nonlethal effects of an invasive invertebrate predator on zooplankton population growth rate. , 2007, Ecology.

[29]  Michael V. Thomas,et al.  Environmental and Ecological Conditions Surrounding the Production of Large Year Classes of Walleye (Sander vitreus) in Saginaw Bay, Lake Huron , 2007 .

[30]  S. C. Riley,et al.  Evidence of Widespread Natural Reproduction by Lake Trout Salvelinus namaycush in the Michigan Waters of Lake Huron , 2007 .

[31]  Lars G. Rudstam,et al.  Evidence for Remote Effects of Dreissenid Mussels on the Amphipod Diporeia: Analysis of Lake Ontario Benthic Surveys, 1972–2003 , 2007 .

[32]  David M. Warner,et al.  Adverse Effects of Alewives on Laurentian Great Lakes Fish Communities , 2008 .

[33]  The Zebra Mussel Dreissena polymorpha Found in North America in 1986 and 1987 , 2008 .

[34]  David M. Warner,et al.  Resurgence of Emerald Shiners Notropis atherinoides in Lake Huron's Main Basin , 2008 .

[35]  S. C. Riley,et al.  Biomass of deepwater demersal forage fishes in Lake Huron, 1994–2007: Implications for offshore predators , 2009 .

[36]  M. Tuchman,et al.  Recent shifts in the crustacean zooplankton community of Lake Huron , 2009 .

[37]  D. J. Stewart,et al.  Majority of Age-3 Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) in Lake Ontario were Wild from 1992 to 2005, Based on Scale Pattern Analysis , 2009 .

[38]  G. Lang,et al.  Transformation of the offshore benthic community in Lake Michigan: recent shift from the native amphipod Diporeia spp. to the invasive mussel Dreissena rostriformis bugensis , 2009 .

[39]  R. Eshenroder.  Comment: Mitochondrial DNA Analysis Indicates Sea Lampreys are Indigenous to Lake Ontario , 2009 .

[40]  S. Pothoven,et al.  Dreissena and the Disappearance of the Spring Phytoplankton Bloom in Lake Michigan , 2010 .

[41]  S. Pothoven,et al.  Recent Changes in Density, Biomass, Recruitment, Size Structure, and Nutritional State of Dreissena Populations in Southern Lake Michigan , 2010 .

[42]  R. O'Gorman,et al.  The Bioenergetic Consequences of Invasive‐Induced Food Web Disruption to Lake Ontario Alewives , 2010 .

[43]  James E. Johnson,et al.  Mass-Marking Reveals Emerging Self Regulation of the Chinook Salmon Population in Lake Huron , 2010 .

[44]  C. Riseng,et al.  Trends in Diporeia populations across the Laurentian Great Lakes, 19972009 , 2011 .

[45]  Mary Anne Evans,et al.  Incidental oligotrophication of North American Great Lakes. , 2011, Environmental science & technology.

[46]  David M. Warner,et al.  Planktivory in the changing Lake Huron zooplankton community: Bythotrephes consumption exceeds that of Mysis and fish , 2011 .