Size-selective harvest has been common practice in over-exploited commercial fish populations. Yet, few studies have shown that selective harvest also implicates non-random selection with regards to genetic composition, or have considered genetic population structure, even though this is necessary to implicate harvest in the evolution of over-exploited fish stocks. I investigated both genetic population structure and selection in a historically over-exploited lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) population associated with fisheries-induced evolution in Lesser Slave Lake, Alberta, Canada. Archived samples DNA of lake whitefish caught between 1986 and 1999 were genotyped at 20 microsatellite or 51 SNP loci associated with growth the species. Multi-mesh test-netting represents random harvests of genetic variability, whereas individuals harvested using commercial mesh nets represented non-random samples with respect to genetic composition in one SNP associated with metabolism. Selective removal of genetic variation can have unintended evolutionary consequences, which may lead to the collapse of fish stocks
