Stocking of sea trout, Salmo trutta, in Lake Veere, south‐west Netherlands

• Published in: Fisheries Management and Ecology
• Main Author: Raat, A. J. P.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2003
• Subjects: Anguilla anguilla
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2400.2003.00327.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1046%2Fj.1365-2400.2003.00327.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1046/j.1365-2400.2003.00327.x

Abstract Lake Veere (1750–2050 ha), a brackish water lake in south‐west Netherlands, is a former branch of the Oosterschelde. The lake was closed off by the construction of two dams in 1961. Since the early 1970s Lake Veere has been regularly stocked for recreational and commercial fisheries with rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss (Walbaum), brown trout, Salmo trutta L., and glass eel, Anguilla anguilla (L.). Between May and September 1996 an experimental stocking of 18 054 trout of sea trout parentage (15–16 cm; 776 kg) was carried out to study their potential for recreational fisheries. The growth and mortality of the stocked trout were estimated from recaptures in eel fyke nets. The production and consumption of the stocked trout were estimated with a bioenergetics model. After 3.5 years (May 1996–November 1999) the stocked trout measured between 50 and 70 cm. The estimated annual total mortality was 84%. During the winter of 1996–1997, the biomass of the stocked trout reached a maximum of about 1800 kg. By November 1999 the biomass was estimated to be 100 kg. The maximum daily consumption by the trout population was 60 g ha −1 in October 1996 and in June 1997. The total consumption of the stocked trout population over the 3.5‐year period was estimated as 54 244 kg. The analysis suggested that the stocked trout used about 0.2% of the average annual primary production of the lake system. Although the growth and initial production of the population are attractive from the perspective of a recreational fishery, the high mortality and infestation with the salmon louse, Lepeophtheirus salmonis (Krøyer), are serious drawbacks for a future stocking programme with trout in Lake Veere.