[OANNES Foro] Recreational fishing selectively captures individuals with the highest fitness potential

[Mario Cabrejos]

PNAS | December 18, 2012 | vol. 109 | no. 51

Recreational fishing selectively captures individuals with the highest fitness potential
David A. H. Suttera,b,c,1, Cory D. Suskib, David P. Philippb,d, Thomas Klefotha, David H. Wahlb,d, Petra Kerstene,
Steven J. Cookef, and Robert Arlinghausa,c
aDepartments of Biology and Ecology of Fishes and eEcophysiology and Aquaculture, Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, 12587
Berlin, Germany; bDepartment of Natural Resources and Environmental Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801; cInland
Fisheries Management Laboratory, Department for Crop and Animal Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture and Horticulture, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 10115
Berlin, Germany; dIllinois Natural History Survey, Champaign, IL 61820; and fFish Ecology and Conservation Physiology Laboratory, Department of Biology and
Institute of Environmental Science, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1S 5B6

Summary

Fisheries-induced evolution and its impact on the productivity of exploited fish stocks remains a highly contested research topic in applied fish evolution and fisheries science. Although many quantitative models assume that larger, more fecund fish are preferentially removed by fishing, there is no empirical evidence describing the relationship between vulnerability to capture and individual reproductive fitness in the wild. Using males from two lines of largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) selectively bred over three generations for either high (HV) or low (LV) vulnerability to angling as a model system, we show that the trait "vulnerability to angling"
positively correlates with aggression, intensity of parental care, and reproductive fitness. The difference in reproductive fitness between HV and LV fish was particularly evident among larger males, which are also the preferred mating partners of females. Our study constitutes experimental evidence that recreational angling selectively
captures individuals with the highest potential for reproductive fitness. Our study further suggests that selective removal of the fittest individuals likely occurs in many fisheries that target species engaged in parental care. As a result, depending on the ecological context, angling-induced selection may have negative consequences
for recruitment within wild populations of largemouth bass and possibly other exploited species in which behavioral patterns that determine fitness, such as aggression or parental care, also affect their vulnerability to fishing gear.
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