Relationship Between Environmental Temperature and Yields of Subarctic and Temperate Zone Fish Species

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Abstract
Fishes inhabiting subarctic and temperate zone lakes exhibit distinct optimal growth temperatures and temperature preferenda. However, within regional data sets, attempts to correlate fish yields with temperature variables have generally been unsuccessful. In our study, curvilinear relationships between "long-term mean annual air temperature" (TEMP) and sustained yields of three species were fitted using data from 23 intensively fished lakes in Canada and the northern United States. Optimum TEMP values for sustained yield were approximately −1.0, 1.5, and 2 °C, respectively, for lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis), northern pike (Esox lucius), and walleye (Stizostedion vitreum vitreum). These differences suggest that the influence of temperature on sustained fish yields from subarctic and temperate zone lakes may, in the past, have been underestimated.

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