Eurasian Watermilfoil as a Fishery Management Tool

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Abstract
Eurasian watermilfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum L.) poses new challenges to fishery managers as it continues to spread and multiply in North American waters. Some of its effects can be detrimental to fisheries. When dense, the plant obstructs swimming space of pelagic fishes, shelters too many juvenile fishes, and disrupts foraging movements of piscivores. In replacing native plants that harbor a diverse array of invertebrates, watermilfoil creates food shortages for fishes. By blocking sunlight penetration and water movements, it depletes dissolved oxygen inshore that can cause fish kills when shoots decay in autumn. Therefore, lakes with healthy native plants should be left undisturbed and guarded against infestations of Eurasian watermilfoil. But the same plant in other lakes can improve fish production, especially in waters too turbid to support native plant growth. By increasing the surface area for invertebrate colonization, Eurasian watermilfoil expands the food base for benthivores and prote...

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