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I don't think that we can safely assume any conclusions from only one piece of data. The graph shows that more fish were sold, as was pointed out. One could attribute this to higher populations, but it may also mean that more people sold fish last year(bad economy), or there was a longer season, better ice, better weather on weekends, a shortage of food for perch(hungry fish are easier to catch) and any number of things. I would be more interested in the average sizes and weight of the fish caught.
Esox_xtm, the commercial fishery in VT isn't really regulated or limited, and there's no closed season. It's not "companies" harvesting the fish-- it's individual hook-and-line fishermen selling to fishmongers.
I would sell the whites if I caught enough to make it worth my while, but I eat all the yellows that I keep. It didn't seem as though people were finding the white perch in the same numbers last season as they had in the past. I know that a few had some great days. I only caught a few that were mixed in with the yellows. Never saw the schools of thousands like the year before. I still remember seeing my flasher light up from 30 ft all the way up to my hole. I wish we could get rid of them, but they are fun in numbers.