The Lake Erie Forage Task Group: A Model for Cooperative Forage Fish Monitoring

Monitoring of forage fish species in Lake Erie has been an integral part of fisheries management in Lake Erie since the mid-1980s. Forage fish monitoring programs conducted by agencies are coordinated by the Forage Task Group (FTG), a sub-committee of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission’s Lake Erie Committee. Coordinated forage fish sampling includes: bottom trawling, mid-water trawling, and hydroacoustic surveys. Bi-weekly sampling of zooplankton and water quality and semi-annual sampling of benthos compliment forage fish sampling to provide context for understanding trends and inter-annual changes in forage fish abundance. Charges of the FTG and activities to fulfil them are linked to fish community goals and objectives, which guide harvest management. Annual reporting includes written reports to the GLFC and oral reports to GLFC partner agencies and interested members of the public, including universities, NGOs, and commercial/recreational interest groups. Indices of abundance for some species have been used in stock-recruit models for exploited predators. Results of this program have included documentation of trends in forage fish abundance, shifts in relative abundances, changes in trophic status (e.g., elevated Phosphorus), and tracking of invasive species and their integration into the food web that inform other lake-wide management programs.