Effects of water temperature and pikeperch (Sander lucioperca) abundance on the stock–recruitment relationship of Eurasian perch (Perca fluviatilis) in the northern Baltic Sea

Abstract

How spawning stock size, environmental conditions and recruitment relate to each other is an essential question in understanding population dynamics of exploited fish stocks. We estimated the recruitment of Eurasian perch (Perca fluviatilis), one of the most important species in coastal fisheries in northern Baltic Sea, and examined the factors that determine perch recruitment success. We hypothesized that perch spawning population biomass and summer water temperature would increase perch recruitment, with potential density dependence, while the effect of the population size of pikeperch (Sander lucioperca) would be negative. Different forms of general stock–recruitment functions, with and without density dependence, and with and without water temperature and pikeperch population size as environmental factors were fitted to long-term (1981–2014) stock assessment data of perch and pikeperch in the Archipelago Sea, southwestern coast of Finland. Perch spawning stock biomass (ages 5–14), water temperature in June–July and pikeperch stock size (ages ≥ 1) at spawning year best explained variation in perch recruitment. The results supported the predictions: perch recruitment increased with spawning stock in density-dependent manner, pikeperch effect on perch recruitment was negative and summer temperature effect was positive suggesting environmentally affected competitive interaction between these two percids.