01-30-2013, 07:56 PM
[quote fish_fear_me2] If a population of perch becomes stunted, possibly from over abundance, over time do they develop a genetic disposition to remain stunded regardless of population? [/quote]
Many anglers misunderstand what "stunting" means. It does not mean "small fish". Population stunting is a slowed growth rate in a fish population. Results of stunting are certainly small sizes.
Population stunting is caused by too many fish. It is NOT caused by "not enough food", although not enough food is certainly a result of stunting.
Stunting is simply population size. When the population of fish in the system gets too high, then stunting -- or, slowed growth rates -- occurs. The reason for stunting is simple: population control.
Again, with perch and walleye, often times there is no control in place to limit population sizes. If you can reduce population sizes, then stunting -- slowed growth rates -- goes away and fish very well may become "large" again. You don't see this with perch because there isn't anywhere that their population sizes have been reduced, with the exception of when a lake has been poisoned or de-watered (Yuba?).
you can have a whole bunch of small jelly beans in your bucket, or you can have a few very large jelly beans in your bucket. But, once that bucket is full, you cannot add any more jelly beans to it.
Read the article I attached to my previous thread. You'll learn a bunch.
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Many anglers misunderstand what "stunting" means. It does not mean "small fish". Population stunting is a slowed growth rate in a fish population. Results of stunting are certainly small sizes.
Population stunting is caused by too many fish. It is NOT caused by "not enough food", although not enough food is certainly a result of stunting.
Stunting is simply population size. When the population of fish in the system gets too high, then stunting -- or, slowed growth rates -- occurs. The reason for stunting is simple: population control.
Again, with perch and walleye, often times there is no control in place to limit population sizes. If you can reduce population sizes, then stunting -- slowed growth rates -- goes away and fish very well may become "large" again. You don't see this with perch because there isn't anywhere that their population sizes have been reduced, with the exception of when a lake has been poisoned or de-watered (Yuba?).
you can have a whole bunch of small jelly beans in your bucket, or you can have a few very large jelly beans in your bucket. But, once that bucket is full, you cannot add any more jelly beans to it.
Read the article I attached to my previous thread. You'll learn a bunch.
[signature]