Interim Report on a Study of the Effects of a Regulation Prohibiting Largemouth211 Bass Harvest on Population Characteristics of Bluegill in Two Minnesota 211 Metropolitan Lakes

摘要

After three years of preliminary sampling in four centrarchid lakes, a regulation211u001eprohibiting harvest of largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides was implemented on 211u001etwo of the lakes. The objective was to increase the average size of panfish 211u001e(primarily bluegill Lepomis macrochirus) available to anglers by limiting 211u001erecruitment through increased predator abundance. Noncompliance with the 211u001eregulation was observed during creek surveys. Largemouth bass harvest estimates 211u001edeclined only 68% in one lake and 88% in the other during the first 2 years of 211u001eregulation compared with the previous 3 years. Spring population estimates have 211u001enot yet provided conclusive evidence of increased largemouth bass abundance. The 211u001eonly notable changes in bluegill population characteristics were increases in 211u001egrowth rates and fish quality in one of the experimental lakes. That, however, 211u001ebegan before the regulation was implemented.