RESTORATION OF LAKE-ERIE - CONTRIBUTION OF WATER-QUALITY AND NATURAL-RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Since the 1960s, the open-water fish community of Lake Erie recovered dramatically, partly as a result of water-quality and natural-resource management initiatives (including reduction in loadings of phosphorus and toxic contaminants, promotion of wetland protection, restriction of commercial fishing, and implementation of quota management for wall eye (Stizostedion vitreum vitreum) and yellow perch (Perca flavescens) ). Reviews of historical changes reveal complex interactions of overex ploitation of fishery resources, invasion of non-indigenous species, e utrophication, extensive habitat modification, and toxic contamination . Native fish species that required tributary or neashore habitat for spawning and nursery areas have declined markedly. Among surviving nat ive species, such as walleye, stock diversity declined with the loss o f tributary spawning stocks and lake spawning stocks became dominant. With the rarefaction of native species, abundance of formerly subdomin ant species or opportunistic, non-indigenous species increased. Specie s such as smelt (Osmerus mordax), gizzard shad (Dorosoma cepedianum), and white perch (Morone americana) have less dependence on critical tr ibutary and nearshore habitat. In this paper, we evaluate whether the shifts in fish community structure in Lake Erie reflect the eliminatio n of tributary and wetland habitat. Major unresolved issues are the ex tent to which habitat loss inhibits recovery of native species associa tions and the sufficiency of management coordination to identify and r estore critical habitat.