One frequently desired outcome of Lake Sturgeon Acipenser fulvescens rehabilitation is to create a recreational fishery for the species. However, few waterbodies offer a recreational fishery where anglers can catch Lake Sturgeon regularly. Lake St. Clair and the St. Clair River (hereafter, “St. Clair system”) contain large, stable populations of Lake Sturgeon, and a recreational fishery allowing harvest has been present since 1950. Over the last several decades, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) has monitored the recreational Lake Sturgeon fishery in the St. Clair system by using numerous methods to assess angler participation, harvest rates, and population effects of the fishery. Lake Sturgeon anglers in the St. Clair system are predominantly male (89%) and largely reside in the three nearest counties (72%), although the geographic footprint of Lake Sturgeon anglers appears to be increasing. Estimates of angler abundance, trends in angler recapture of tagged Lake Sturgeon, sturgeon harvest data, and reported capture of MDNR “Master Angler”‐sized Lake Sturgeon by anglers all indicated that angling effort in this Lake Sturgeon fishery has steadily increased since monitoring began. Despite increasing angler participation, the recreational fishery has had no detectable population‐level effect on Lake Sturgeon in the St. Clair system. Harvest rates of tagged Lake Sturgeon are low, with most anglers practicing catch and release. Recapture rates of angler‐caught fish in comparison to MDNR survey‐caught fish suggested that hooking mortality is low. Additionally, apparent survival estimates of Lake Sturgeon have been constant. Information gained from monitoring the recreational Lake Sturgeon fishery in the St. Clair system will be valuable to managers assessing whether to establish a sturgeon fishery in other systems.

中文翻译：

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圣克莱尔系统中消遣性St鱼渔业的趋势和影响

St鱼湖cip鱼的一个经常需要的结果复原是为该物种创造休闲渔业。但是，很少有水生体提供休闲渔业，垂钓者可以定期钓到St鱼湖。圣克莱尔湖和圣克莱尔河（以下简称“圣克莱尔系统”）拥有大量稳定的St鱼湖，自1950年以来就一直有休闲捕鱼业可供捕捞。在过去的几十年中，密歇根州系美国自然资源部（MDNR）通过使用多种方法来评估垂钓者的参与度，收成率和渔业种群影响，从而监测了圣克莱尔湖中St鱼湖的休闲渔业。尽管Stakeon垂钓者的地理足迹似乎在增加，但St. Clair系统中的Sturgeon垂钓者大多为男性（占89％），主要居住在最近的三个县（72％）。垂钓者数量的估计值，标记的St鱼湖的垂钓者捕获趋势，st鱼收获数据以及据报道，垂钓者捕获了MDNR“ Master Angler”大小的St鱼，这些都表明自监测开始以来，这种St鱼湖渔业的垂钓努力稳步增加。尽管增加了垂钓者的参与，但休闲渔业对圣克莱尔系统的St鱼湖没有发现可检测到的种群水平影响。带标签的St鱼湖的收成率很低，大多数垂钓者都在练习捕捞和释放。与MDNR调查捕获的鱼类相比，垂钓捕获的鱼类的捕获率表明，钩挂死亡率较低。另外，apparent鱼湖的明显存活估计是恒定的。通过监视圣马丁岛St鱼休闲渔业获得的信息。