A generalized application of the catch-curve regression with comparisons of adult mortality and year-class strength between hatchery-stocked and wild-reared lake trout in US waters of Lake Huron

Ji X. He; Charles P. Madenjian; Todd C. Wills

doi:10.1139/cjfas-2022-0275

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A generalized application of the catch-curve regression with comparisons of adult mortality and year-class strength between hatchery-stocked and wild-reared lake trout in US waters of Lake Huron

Ji X. He·Charles P. Madenjian·Todd C. Wills

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Abstract

The recently developed approach to estimating the instantaneous total mortality of coded-wire-tagged lake trout ( Salvelinus namaycush ) is generally applicable to catch-at-age data. We further formalized the technique to objectively incorporate the year-class and year effects into the model structure of catch-curve regression. We used this new method to compare adult mortality and year-class strength between the hatchery-stocked and wild-reared lake trout in US waters of Lake Huron, one of the Laurentian Great Lakes. Model comparisons showed no difference in adult mortality between the hatchery-stocked and wild-reared lake trout. Based on 95% confidence intervals, the estimate of adult mortality using the simple catch-curve regression with average number-at-age was not statistically different from the estimate using the linear mixed model with individual number-at-age of multiple year-classes and sampling years. The linear mixed model, however, also quantified lake trout year-class strength and indicated that since 2003, the increases in recruitment of wild-reared lake trout did not fully compensate for the rapid declines in recruitment of hatchery-stocked lake trout in Lake Huron.

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Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences Article

Source-reported bounding extent: 43.4851562° to 46.1015274° latitude; -84.7775996° to -82.2464373° longitude. This indicates report coverage, not an exact sampling location. View area on OpenStreetMap.

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Ji X. He, Charles P. Madenjian, Todd C. Wills. 2023. A generalized application of the catch-curve regression with comparisons of adult mortality and year-class strength between hatchery-stocked and wild-reared lake trout in US waters of Lake Huron. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfas-2022-0275

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