Long-term changes in body condition and gillnet selectivity in Lake Constance pelagic spawning whitefish (Coregonus wartmanni)

Abstract

The body condition of Lake Constance pelagic spawning whitefish (Coregonus wartmanni) has changed substantially during the past century and altered the length-based selectivity of gillnets. Linked hierarchical models using Bayesian inference and error propagation were used to estimate the monthly body condition of whitefish from 1932 to 2018 and condition-dependent gillnet selectivity from 1964 to 2018. As expected, body condition followed past trends in nutrient dynamics and was highest in summer months. Body condition was clearly linked to gillnet selectivity, with a weight increase of a 300 mm whitefish from 205 to 260 g predicted to reduce the mean (from 374 to 330 mm) and standard deviation (from 30.8 to 25.1 mm) of lengths selected by a 38 mm mesh gillnet. Simulations demonstrate that such changes can reduce the mean age in harvest by over 1 year and greatly bias population age distribution estimates if selectivity changes are ignored. Similar variation in gillnet selectivity is expected where trophic conditions or other factors cause body condition differences, and accounting for these changes could reduce biases to inform fishery management.