Utilization of creel survery data to evaluate fish harvest trends in Tennessee reservoirs

A SAS program was written to process raw creel data from Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency's (TWRA) annual reservoir surveys. This program summarized important harvest and pressure information in five-year blocks by utilizing results of the TWRA estimated fishing hours expansion program. Combinations of harvest, pressure-effort, and physical-chemical variables were used to determine annual fisheries trends in Tennessee's reservoirs. A multiple correlation matrix was used to determine collinearity among all variables used in this study. Biological variables (total harvest, and harvest of crappie, black bass, catfish, and sunfish in pounds per acre) were significantly correlated with the pressure-effort variables (total pounds harvested per hour and total hours fished per acre) and the physical-chemical variables (total suspended solids and total phosphorus). Mean annual total suspended solids, total phosphorus, total pounds harvested per acre, and total hours fished per acre were most related to sport fish harvests and may help predict potential harvests for any given reservoir in Tennessee.

Each major harvest classification was divided into four groups. of similar reservoirs and ultimately combined into two groups. State-wide harvest and standing crop relationships were discussed as annual reservoir trends. In addition, harvest (pounds per acre) and pressure (hours fished per acre) trends for selected reservoirs were discussed. Kentucky, Normandy, and Fort Loudoun Reservoirs appeared in the highest harvest groups while Norris, Melton Hill, and Cordell Hull appeared in the lowest harvest groups. In comparisons of total pounds per acre harvested and total pounds standing crop per acre, it was determined that between 10% and 40% of potential harvestable size fish were removed. It appeared that most Tennessee reservoirs have the capacity to withstand additional harvests of 25% to 50% above the present values.