Aquaculture and Fisheries Commons^™

Effects Of Length Limits On Sexually Size Dimorphic Fishes, Peter J. Spirk

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Length limits are used by fishery managers as a method to alter size structure of fish populations. Unfortunately, biological differences between fish sexes (i.e., sexual-size dimorphism) may lead to sex-specific rates of recruitment, growth, and mortality. The addition of angler harvest to most aquatic systems likely accentuates differences in sex-specific rates by selectively harvesting the fastest-growing and largest fish from a population. The first objective of this study was to document the extent of sexual-size dimorphism for white bass and walleye at a Nebraska reservoir. Growth rates were similar between male and female white bass although male white bass were …