Wisconsin Natural Resource board approved the adoption of FM-40-96 and FM-47-96 ; closure of commercial yellow perch harvest and reduction of sport bag limit from 25 to 5 fish per day.
The rule proposal was recommended for the purpose of protecting the remaining yellow perch population in Lake Michigan in order to enhance the changes of a rapid recovery of the population. The following table summarizes the problem. The values reflect the abundance of yellow perch of different ages in Lake Michigan population since 1986. The graded-mesh nets are gill nets in which different sections have different mesh sizes, allowing the collection of a wide range of sizes of yellow perch. The actual catches of fish of different ages have been adjusted to best estimate abundance.
