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Progress Toward Re-establishing Lake Sturgeon Passage on the Menominee River
Midwest Region, June 8, 2009
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Downstream view of the White Rapids dam on the Menominee River. USFWS photo by Nick Utrup. 
Downstream view of the White Rapids dam on the Menominee River. USFWS photo by Nick Utrup. 
Close-up look at the prototype fishway entrance structure directly downstream from the powerhouse. USFWS photo by Nick Utrup
Close-up look at the prototype fishway entrance structure directly downstream from the powerhouse. USFWS photo by Nick Utrup
Workers install the PIT tag reader antenna in the front part of the entrance channel. USFWS photo by Nick Utrup  
Workers install the PIT tag reader antenna in the front part of the entrance channel. USFWS photo by Nick Utrup  
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Nick Utrup performs a system check and downloads data from the Biomark PIT tag reader. Photo by Jim Fossum, River Alliance of Wisconsin
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Nick Utrup performs a system check and downloads data from the Biomark PIT tag reader. Photo by Jim Fossum, River Alliance of Wisconsin
Video still from camera 1 showing lake sturgeon movement upstream into the entrance structure and through the antenna field.
Video still from camera 1 showing lake sturgeon movement upstream into the entrance structure and through the antenna field.
Video still from camera 3 showing lake sturgeon movement upstream into the entrance structure and through the antenna field.
Video still from camera 3 showing lake sturgeon movement upstream into the entrance structure and through the antenna field.

Historically, Lake Michigan has been home to an abundance of lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) with free and unobstructed access to the feeding and spawning areas within its many tributaries.  Major tributaries like the Menominee River, which forms the border between Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, at one time supported vast lake sturgeon spawning migrations.  Within the past 100 years, however, construction and operation of hydroelectric dams along the river has destroyed much of the historical spawning grounds that once supported these great migrations.  Habitat fragmentation and loss of spawning areas has contributed to the decline of the lake sturgeon population in Lake Michigan resulting in the need to list the fish as threatened in Michigan and as a species of special concern in Wisconsin.

 

Presently, there are five hydroelectric dams that are within the historic spawning range for lake sturgeon on the Menominee River. All of these dams are licensed to operate by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and, as such, are subject to environmental review by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and other federal, state, local, and non-governmental agencies and organizations.  

 

In 1993, as part of the 30 year relicensing proceedings for one of the five dams, White Rapids Hydroelectric Project (FERC Project No. 2357), a team including the FWS, the National Park Service, Wisconsin’s and Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources, and the River Alliance of Wisconsin, began planning efforts with We Energies (licensee) to evaluate the costs and feasibility of installing fish passage structures that will pass lake sturgeon upstream and downstream of White Rapids dam.  Prior to detailed planning, the team agreed that it was necessary and critical to first determine if sturgeon could be attracted to, and enter, a fish passage entrance structure.  Following this recommendation, We Energies voluntarily constructed a prototype entrance structure designed to simulate the entrance of a potential fishway.

 

Earlier this year, the entrance structure was equipped with a Biomark Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tag reader antenna.  This highly sensitive PIT tag reader antenna is designed to detect and record the presence of a tagged lake sturgeon within its antenna field.  Detection by this PIT tag reader would indicate the use of the entrance channel by one of the several hundred tagged lake sturgeon below White Rapids dam.  In addition to the PIT tag antenna, two underwater cameras were mounted on either side of the entrance structure to visually monitor lake sturgeon movement. Video documentation is critical for PIT tag reader verification and is also important in determining the behavior of lake sturgeon as they enter the structure.  The cameras are both equipped with LED lights that emit and are sensitive to infrared light.  Infrared light is used to illuminate the camera view and is not visible to the fish.

 

All cameras and monitoring equipment were installed and activated on April 14, 2009, several weeks before the start of the spring lake sturgeon spawning season.  Video data collection continued throughout the entire spring spawning season and was concluded following the end of the spawning season (June 2, 2009).  The PIT tag reader will continue to log data throughout the rest of the year and potentially through the 2010 spring spawning season.

 

Preliminary results from the spring spawning season indicate successful use of the entrance structure by tagged lake sturgeon.  From April 14 through June 2, 2009, the PIT tag reader and antenna system recorded 1,244 individual tag readings.  Because a PIT tag in the antenna field can be recorded by the system multiple times per second, these individual recordings were summarized as corresponding to 64 individual occurrences of lake sturgeon in the entrance structure.  In total, 22 individually tagged lake sturgeon have been recorded in the entrance structure by the PIT tag reader and antenna system.  Preliminary analysis of the underwater video has verified that these fish did indeed move through the entrance structure from downstream.

 

Understanding how lake sturgeon react to a passage entrance structure is critical to further development an effective fishway at White Rapids dam. Preliminary results from the 2009 spawning season seem to indicate a positive response by tagged lake sturgeon migrating upstream below the dam.  Further analysis of the PIT tag and underwater video data will help biologists and engineers determine how to best construct a permanent fishway.
Contact Info: Nicholas Utrup, 920-866-1736, Nick_Utrup@fws.gov



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