Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: Wisconsin Fishery
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

Wisconsin Fishery Project


Using parentage analysis to investigate the spawning and recruitment dynamics of walleye in Northern Wisconsin

July 2019 - June 2021


Personnel

Participating Agencies

  • Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

Walleye have undergone substantial recruitment declines in the upper Midwest, but finding casual mechanisms for these declines has remained illusive. We will use genetic techniques to reconstruct pedigrees for walleye in an attempt to investigate walleye spawning biology and recruitment. This project is a collaboration between USGS and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. The results will be used to guide future fishing regulations and to develop conservation plans that protect important habitat features.