The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) recently announced that the 2016 creel limit for Lake Erie yellow perch will remain at 30 per day and the creel limit for walleye will stay at six per day.
At its March 31 meeting, the Lake Erie Committee allotted to Pennsylvania a yellow perch total allowable catch (TAC) of 619,968 pounds, a 7% decrease from 2015. The 2016 level includes a yellow perch TAC for the commercial trap net fishery of 100,000 pounds.
Since 1996, the average harvest of yellow perch by Pennsylvania’s combined recreational (139,000 lbs.) and commercial fisheries (11,000 lbs.) has been 150,000 pounds.
Based on a 2016 abundance estimate of 33 million walleye age two or older, the walleye population has increased by about 30% from 2015 levels.
The PFBC adopted a regulation in 2012 which established adaptive creel limits for walleye and yellow perch based on the annual quotas established by the Lake Erie Committee, which consists of fisheries managers from Pa., Ohio, N.Y., Mich., and Ontario, Canada. Under the regulation, the PFBC sets daily creel limits for these species by April 15 each year.
source: Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission