Angler Compliance with Lake Trout Length Limit Regulations in Great Lakes Waters

Recreational fishing regulations restrict harvest to protect fish, change size structure, equitably spread the take of public resources, or to meet harvest quotas. Both minimum size limits and slot limits have been used to keep yield below yearly management unit-specific harvest quotas for Lake Trout Salvelinus namaycush in Michigan waters of lakes Superior, Huron, and Michigan. To determine the rates at which anglers complied with these length limits, I examined the biological data collected by Michigan Department of Natural Resources creel clerks in nine management units from 2001 to 2012. Across all lakes, the rate of noncompliance was significantly lower under minimum size limits (4.8%) than it was under slot limits (17.6%). Compliance did not improve with the length of time a regulation was in effect. Of the various size regulations in place, those that required more Lake Trout to be released were more likely to be violated, whether they were implemented as minimum size limits or slot limits. Understanding these patterns of noncompliance will help managers both identify areas for improved angler education and more accurately project fishery yield when considering various regulation scenarios.