Michael C. Quist Andrew M. Dux Steven L. Whitlock 2018 <p><span>Resource managers have been attempting to recover the kokanee (</span><i>Oncorhynchus nerka</i><span>) population in Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho for more than three decades using an annual stocking program and an experimental water-level management strategy. This study evaluated the effect of both management actions on kokanee recruitment. A bootstrap-based generalized Ricker model was used to test if wild kokanee recruitment was significantly influenced by water-level management, while accounting for error due to sampling variability and differential survival of wild- and hatchery-origin fish within age-classes. Wild kokanee exhibited a compensatory stock-recruitment relationship, whereas hatchery recruitment was positively and linearly related to stocking. The model did not identify a significant relationship between water level and wild kokanee recruitment. Density dependence and variable stocking appeared to explain the synchronized and cyclic recruitment of wild and hatchery fry.</span></p> application/pdf 10.3955/046.092.0206 en Washington State University Press Effects of water-level management and hatchery supplementation on kokanee recruitment in Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho article