Yellow perch are an ecologically and economically important species in North America, especially in Lake Michigan.  Yellow perch supported extensive commercial and recreational fisheries in Lake Michigan as recently as the 1980s, but only a fraction of those recreational fisheries remain.  Understanding recruitment dynamics of yellow perch is critical for their successful management.

A recent study by AWRI scientists in collaboration with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources found that good years of juvenile yellow perch recruitment in Muskegon Lake were not associated with good years in nearshore Lake Michigan.  Additionally, warmer Junes were associated with better yellow perch recruitment years in Muskegon Lake, suggesting that environmental conditions early in the life cycle (probably during the larval stage) set year-class strength.  Overall, the study suggests that yellow perch populations in drowned river mouth lakes (such as Muskegon Lake) may function independently of yellow perch populations in Lake Michigan.  However, questions persist about the importance of drowned river mouth lakes for yellow perch population dynamics.  As many recreational anglers will tell you, adult yellow perch may move into drowned river mouth lakes during the winter, but the importance and magnitude of such movements have not been quantified by scientists. 

The full details of this study were recently published in Transactions of the American Fisheries Society.  For additional information on the study (or a copy of the publication), contact Dr. Carl Ruetz (ruetzc@gvsu.edu).

Reference:

Janetski, D.J., C.R. Ruetz III, Y. Bhagat, and D.F. Clapp.  2013.  Recruitment dynamics of age-0 yellow perch in a drowned river mouth lake: assessing synchrony with nearshore Lake Michigan.  Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 142:505-514.