Management of selected Polish commercial and recreational lake fisheries activities

The objective of management of Polish lakes is to fulfil the needs of commercial and recreational fishermen that developed after the political changes of the last decade. The effectiveness of the policies and practices adopted has never been studied. Six lake enterprises were selected, two in each of the lake districts: Mazuria, Pomerania and Great Poland. The two Mazurian enterprises manage a total of 13 325 ha of lakes, the Pomeranian ones 6130 ha and those of Great Poland 4156 ha. All data on commercial fisheries were collected and studies of anglers' activities were carried out through 550 questionnaires. The six enterprises were analysed as a whole and separately, with attention being paid to commercial landings and stockings in 1995–1999, and anglers' catches in 1998. Two enterprises and lakes were chosen for closer analysis. It was estimated that an average lake angler caught 59.2 kg of fish in 1998, and the overall landings by anglers was 35.0 kg ha^–1 yr^–1. Fish yield from lakes was 50.0 kg ha^–1 yr^–1 without considering poachers' catches.