To investigate whether wild fish populations are food limited, we explored whether the provision of supplementary food had a positive effect on the abundance, condition and growth characteristics of estuarine fish assemblages in New Zealand. 7690 kg of feed was delivered from an anthropogenic feeding station over a 60-week period to a naturally occurring assemblage of wild fish. Yellow-eyed mullet (Aldrichetta forsteri) of juvenile, sub-adult and newly matured size-classes were the dominant species actively foraging at the feeding station throughout its operation, while larger piscivorous species visited and foraged from the feed station over the summer period only. Other species were present in the wider area of Nelson Haven, but not at the feed station. No obvious changes in the condition factor of yellow-eyed mullet were observed across the period of monitoring, and no changes in their catchability were detected - although marked seasonal variation in catch rates were observed, Results from tag-recapture data identify that the length-based growth rates of yellow-eyed mullet recaptured near the feed station were higher than those of tagged individuals recaptured at a nearby comparison site, and were higher than the growth rates observed in natural populations of yellow-eyed mullet in the wider region. Shifts in the median size of fish, as observed by acoustic observations, agreed with the tag-recapture data. While some of the results identified were not amenable to statistical analyses, the attendance of yellow-eyed mullet at the feeding station, in combination with the improved estimates of growth by most of the techniques employed, provide indication that yellow-eyed mullet are food limited in their natural environment and that the growth performance of these fish can be positively affected by the increased availability of food. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

中文翻译：

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调查野生渔业的食物限制：温带河口人为饲养站鱼类的出勤和生长反应

为了调查野生鱼类种群是否受食物限制，我们探讨了提供补充食物是否对新西兰河口鱼类组合的丰度、状况和生长特征产生积极影响。在 60 周的时间里，7690 公斤饲料从一个人为饲养站运送到自然发生的野生鱼群。幼鱼、亚成鱼和新成熟大小级别的黄眼鲻 (Aldrichetta forsteri) 是饲喂站整个运营期间积极觅食的优势物种，而较大的食鱼物种仅在夏季期间从饲喂站访问和觅食. 其他物种存在于尼尔森黑文的更广阔区域，但不在饲料站。在整个监测期间，没有观察到黄眼鲻鱼的状况因素发生明显变化，也没有检测到它们的可捕获性发生变化——尽管观察到捕获率有明显的季节性变化，但标签重新捕获数据的结果表明，长度——在饲料站附近重新捕获的黄眼鲻鱼的基础增长率高于在附近比较地点重新捕获的标记个体，并且高于在更广泛地区的黄眼鲻鱼自然种群中观察到的增长率。通过声学观察观察到的鱼的中位数大小的变化与标签重新捕获数据一致。虽然确定的一些结果不适合统计分析，但黄眼鲻鱼在饲养站的出勤率，结合大多数采用的技术对生长的改进估计，表明黄眼鲻鱼是在其自然环境中受到限制的食物，这些鱼的生长性能会受到食物供应量增加的积极影响。本文受版权保护。版权所有。