MacKenzie Hauger is a working on her Masters of Biological Science at the University of Manitoba. Her research here in Manitoba on our black crappie populations is helping her reach that goal. This past summer she completed Phase 1 of her research.
“The reason we wanted to research Black Crappie in the Whiteshell, is because although this species has had a population there for quite a while, it was typically low in numbers and relatively limited to certain areas.
However, in the last decade or so they have really begun to increase in population size and expand their distribution range from what we believe to be is there original introduction site.
As they are becoming more prominent in the area, we want to understand their population dynamics. This includes growth rate, mortality and recruitment in order to better understand how to manage for this ever-growing species.”
Results from your summer data?
- There were really two parts to our data collection this summer. One part included tagging Black Crappie in a series of interconnected lakes (North Cross Lake, South Cross Lake, and Caddy Lake) to monitor movement and usage of the tunnels throughout the system. So far we have placed 300 tags in North Cross Lake, 275 in South Cross Lake and 58 in Caddy Lake. We have had 17 reports of anglers catching tagged Crappie in those areas. Of those 17 reports, 2 of them have been fish that have traveled between lakes, so this shows us some evidence of movement between the lakes so far, but we will continue to monitor that. Each tag contains a unique ID number on one side and our email address on the other side to report your tagged fish.
Age Demographics
- The other part of our data collection was looking at the age and growth of the Black Crappies in various lake systems. So far we have data collected on a total of 1,011 individuals. We found that they typically ranged in length from 48mm to 393mm and in age from 1 to 13 years old. We are seeing differences in length and age classes between lakes
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Otolith from 6 year old crappie
What do you hope to accomplish?
- By the end of this project I hope to provide as much information as possible to help mangers make the most informed decisions on how to manage the Black Crappie fishery in the Whiteshell. A masters in Biological Sciences isn’t too shabby either!
What plans for phase 2 this summer?
- So far phase 2 includes continuing to monitor movement throughout the interconnected lakes system. Along with that we are expanding our field work to include other lakes in the area, we believe to have sustainable populations of Black Crappie.