Dedicated To The Tribal Aquaculture Program

September 2001-Volume 37

Topics Of Interest:

Tribal Fish Hatcheries of the Great Lakes Region

The MTAN believes that tribal fish hatchery operations will be made easier if contacts regarding fish rearing practices are available. The experience and advice that tribal resource managers have can provide enormous assistance to other hatchery programs. The MTAN sincerely hopes that our readers will use the information that follows to make contacts with other tribal fish hatchery managers.

The Bad River Tribal Hatchery has been in operation since the early 1970's. Throughout this time, the hatchery has concentrated its activity around the culture of walleye fry and fingerlings for the purpose of supplementing existing natural walleye reproduction within reservation waters.

During its first decade of operation, the Bad River tribal fish hatchery utilized "hand-me-down" equipment. During the past seven years a number of significant improvements have been made to the facility that have increased its reliability, improved working conditions for hatchery crew members, and progressively increased walleye fry and fingerling production levels and capacities.

The Bad River tribal fish hatchery possesses the capacity to incubate and hatch 122 quarts of walleye eggs. Surface water pumped from the Kakagon River and groundwater from a 6" well provide the hatchery with an ample supply of high quality water.

The hatchery also possesses 3.4 surface acres of pond space for walleye fingerling production. Surface water obtained from the Kakagon River provides a highly fertile environment for the production of zooplankton that comprise a major food source for young walleye. The Bad River tribal hatchery produces 8 to 10 thousand walleye fingerlings and produces 10-14 million walleye fry annually. Future plans include rearing pond expansion, the use of pond liners, plus the development of a sturgeon fry/fingerling production program.

The Keweenaw Bay Tribal Hatchery was established in October 1989. Initially housed in a small tribal storage building north of L'Anse, Michigan, the hatchery quickly outgrew that building. It moved into its present 15 acre location on Pequaming Bay of Lake Superior in March 1993. The hatchery expanded in 1997 to establish a native brook trout broodstock and brook trout stocking program. The goal of Keweenaw Bay's hatchery is to rear native fish (lake and brook trout) for stocking into Lake Superior and adjacent streams to provide a self-sustaining fishery on the reservation and 1842 ceded waters. The hatchery presently receives 900 gallons/minute from three deep water wells. Production capacity is 100,000 lake trout yearlings (6" fish) and 25,000 brook trout yearlings annually.

The hatchery contains thirty-two Heath incubation trays for the trout eggs and eleven- 1,500 gallon fiberglass tanks. The Keweenaw Bay Indian Community has invested over $720,000 in this facility to date, with over half of these funds stemming from gaming profits, an indication of the tribe's commitment to this fishery. This commitment involves not only re-stocking efforts, but tribal participation in fishery assessments and cooperative work towards achieving a healthy fishery habitat. To date, this facility has stocked over 680,000 yearling (5-9") lake trout and 80,000 brook trout.

Through 1995-2001, the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to temporarily utilize the Keweenaw Bay Tribal Hatchery as a lake and brook trout isolation facility. The operational plan calls for the transfer of wild lake trout and coaster brook trout eggs directly to this tribal facility. Once the fish pass a two-year disease clearance period, they will be transferred (as future broodstock) to other Federal/State hatcheries. If this broodstock rejuvenation program works as planned, the Tribe and the Service may decide to continue this program.

This project was of special importance to Ashland FRO because of the long term commitment we have had in developing a broodstock management plan for wild lake trout and brook trout in the Great Lakes. It was during the summer of 1994 that Frank Stone (Ashland FRO Fishery Biologist) first presented his idea of seeking assistance from one of the tribal hatchery programs to help the Service introduce wild lake trout gametes into the National Fish Hatchery system.

The Lac Courte Oreilles Fish Hatchery officially went into production in the spring of 1992 when construction on a hatchery facility first began. However, prior to the new hatchery, the tribe's natural resources department reared walleye and musky using leased incubators and natural ponds. While the facility is new, the interest and effort towards replenishing the fishery is not.

The Lac Courte Oreilles hatchery houses egg incubation systems and four, clay-lined ponds. Two of the ponds are one acre in size and the remaining two are a acre each. The new facility has the capability of incubating approximately 7,000,000 eggs in seven Big Redd units, and the capacity of pond rearing approximately 140,000 walleye. Production during 1992 yielded over two hundred 8"-17" musky, which were stocked in reservation lakes. As the hatchery program continues, walleye will be one of the target species.

The Lac du Flambeau Tribal Fish Hatchery was established in 1936 as a walleye, muskellunge, and white sucker egg/fry production facility. Through the years the hatchery has expanded into a comprehensive fish culture program which utilizes intensive and extensive fish culture techniques to raise fry and fingerlings. Species of fish raised include walleye, muskellunge, white suckers, fathead minnows, brown trout, brook trout, rainbow trout, cisco, and on occasion, largemouth bass and smallmouth bass.

The fish culture facility includes a 315 McDonald jar hatchery, three walleye and muskellunge fry tanks, a start tank facility which includes six Heath incubators, six aluminum fry troughs, six 3'x 3'x 15' start tanks, ten 200' x 6' x 4' outside concrete race-ways, and twenty to one acre earthen ponds. The walleye, muskellunge, fathead minnows and bass are raised in the earthen ponds to fingerling sizes, while the trout are raised in the raceway facilities.

The majority of the fish are raised to stock the reservation's 158 lakes and 34 miles of creeks, rivers and streams. The rainbow trout are produced for sale. Revenues generated are utilized to support the tribal Natural Resources Department.

From 1960 to 1995, the Lac du Flambeau Fish Culture Program has produced over 492 million walleye fry, 5.6 million walleye fingerlings, 2.2 million muskellunge fry, 107,000 muskellunge fingerlings, 306,867 largemouth bass, 49,000 smallmouth bass fingerlings, 140,663 brown trout fingerlings, and 71,105 brook trout fingerlings. Approximately 343,812 pounds of rainbow trout were also produced. The stocking program benefits tribal as well as state-licensed anglers who fish the reservation lakes.

The Lac Vieux Desert Tribe is a newcomer to the business of hatching fish. The tribe started their fish hatchery program in 1992 using the space efficient Big Redd incubators to house fertilized walleye eggs for hatching. Tribal staff, assisted by biologists from the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission and hatchery personnel from other tribes, have collected walleye eggs during the tribe's annual spearing harvest. The eggs are fertilized shortly after the females are milked and then transported to the hatchery's Big Redd unit for incubation. Production capabilities are approximately 1.3 million walleye eggs each year. Walleye fry are currently stocked in area lakes surrounding the reservation that were used during spring spearing. Future plans call for construction of rearing ponds to raise the fry to fingerling size and expansion of the hatchery facility to increase production capabilities.

The Leech Lake Tribal Fish Hatchery was first constructed in 1984 and expanded just two years later in 1986. This 25,000 square foot indoor complex contains rearing tank space in addition to an 80 jar egg incubation battery. Due to increasing production needs, construction began on a 10 acre drainable pond complex in 1993. This state of the art hatchery facility has a total capacity of about 1,500 quarts of eggs and indoor rearing space for about 400,000 whitefish fingerlings. Once the outdoor pond complex was completed, an additional 500,000 fingerling were able to be reared. In addition, this program uses some of the small natural lakes on the reservation, as well as some natural rearing ponds on the White Earth Reservation, to cooperatively rear walleye fingerlings.

Annual fish production is 8 to 10 million walleye fry, 50,000 walleye fingerlings, 400,000 lake whitefish fingerlings, and when the need arises, trout, bass, cisco, and panfish are also produced. In addition, upwards of 20,000,000 white sucker eggs are collected annually. These eggs are incubated, hatched and sold to bait growers who in turn rear and sell them as fishing bait.

All of the game fish are stocked back into lakes and streams on the reservation for tribal subsistence harvest as well as tribal and non-tribal recreational fishing. Whitefish support a tribal commercial fishery and other nongame fish species are also commercially harvested by tribal members. A commercial bait harvest industry, regulated by the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe also exists.

The Menominee Tribe initiated its hatchery program in 1992 focusing on the rearing of walleye fry to fingerlings. The hatchery received walleye fry from the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) in 1992. These fry were reared in a natural rearing pond and stocked into four reservation lakes. The success of the rearing/stocking project spurred the tribe to further development.

In 1993 the tribe's conservation department began constructing four, one acre earthen ponds to replace the natural lake pond and increase the rearing capacity. Each of the ponds will have the capacity of rearing 100,000 fry to fingerling size. About five acres of land was procured for the project and landscaped for the installation of four pond catch basins and a well. The tribe is also considering branching into in-stream incubation of rainbow trout eggs for on-reservation streams.

The Nunns Creek Fishery Enhancement Facility, located near Hessel, Michigan, was purchased in 1987 by the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe on behalf of the Chippewa/Ottawa Treaty Fishery Management Authority, which also serves the Bay Mills Indian Community and the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians. Concern for the preservation of a fishery under pressure from both sport and commercial efforts prompted tribal involvement on behalf of its treaty commercial fishermen.

The Nunns Creek facility has approximately 75 square feet of indoor rearing space and 1,200 square feet outdoors. In addition, four ponds totaling approximately 250 acres are used for walleye fingerling production. These ponds consist of an 8 and 15 acre pond used to culture fathead minnows in addition to a 200 acre pond used for both the culture of fathead minnows and subsequent extended walleye fingerling production. A newly purchased 40 acre drainable pond is used to culture summer walleye fingerlings.

This facility has the potential to produce approximately 1,000,000 two inch walleyes and 100,000 six to ten inch walleyes. These fish are stocked into all three of the upper Great Lakes in order to promote and enhance tribal commercial fishing in these areas.

Walleye eggs are typically collected in mid to late April mostly from Munuscong Lake of the St. Marys River system. Approximately 2-3 million eggs are collected. After about 30 days, hatching occurs and the fry are transported to rearing ponds about 30 miles away. In 1998 approximately 767,958 walleye fingerlings were stocked from this facility (728,248 two inch and 39,710 seven inch walleye). All of these fish were stocked into the 1836 treaty ceded waters of the Great Lakes. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources annually stocks 500,000 chinook salmon above the facility at Nunns Creek. As the chinook salmon become sexually mature and return, they are guided up a fish ladder into a large raceway where biological data is recorded. The indoor circular tanks have been used to hold walleye fry, whitefish fingerlings, and to hold adult sea lamprey for a cooperative tag/recapture study.

The Red Cliff Tribal Fish Hatchery was established in 1994, as a trout and walleye rearing facility, after many years of rearing fish in small, temporary hatcheries. Through the years the hatchery has increased in size and production into a comprehensive fish culture program. The 40' x 100' main building houses the fisheries and hatchery management offices, and the intensive coldwater production area which includes an incubation area, fry tanks, laboratory, furnace/pump room, and twenty large raceways for fingerlings and broodstock fish. Cold water (47 degrees F) is supplied from two 300' wells with 50hp submersible pumps capable of 600 gallons per minute each.

Red Cliff has developed a coaster brook trout (Lake Nipigon strain) broodstock consisting of three year classes with assistance from the Dorian Fish Culture Station in Ontario. These broodstock begin producing eggs during the fall of 1997 to be used in the restoration/reintroduction of coaster brook trout in Lake Superior. Currently, this is the only known broodstock for the Lake Nipigon strain brook trout that is available in the U.S. The Red Cliff Tribal Fish Hatchery is a disease free facility and is designated as a Class A facility by the USFWS LaCrosse Fish Health Center.

Red Cliff is also actively involved in raising walleye throughout the summer. Eggs and milt are collected from tribally speared fish in the spring. The fertilized eggs are transported to the coolwater production area for incubation. A new building was constructed in 1997 for coolwater species rearing. This building will contain a bell jar incubation battery and several Big Redd incubation units, capable of incubating over 8.0 million walleye eggs, two rectangle fry tanks, and six circular rearing tanks for intensive culture. After hatching, the walleye fry are placed into the hatcherys drainable rearing ponds or into several cooperators ponds for additional rearing. Extended growth walleyes (6-10 inches) are removed from the ponds in the fall, marked, and released back to the lakes that they were initially collected from as eggs. Any question, suggestions, or to schedule a tour of the hatchery please contact Greg Fischer at 715-779-3728.

The Red Lake Fish Hatchery has been in operation since 1924 when it was first built in Redby, Minnesota. At that time, the tribal commercial fishery and the hatchery were managed by the Minnesota Department of Game and Fish under an agreement with the tribe. However, in 1929 the management agreement between the tribe and the state ended, and the tribe has successfully operated the fish hatchery ever since. Walleye and northern pike are the principal species propagated for stocking the Red Lakes.

The hatchery's story has been one of growth and improvement. One of the first major improvements was the construction of a dam on Mud Creek, adjacent to the hatchery. The dam created a reservoir which supplies a free-flowing source of water to the hatchery. A new fish hatchery was constructed in 1991 to replace the old facility, which had become structurally unsound. The new facility is equipped with 200 egg hatching jars, which yields a total incubating capacity of 75 million walleye eggs.

In the past, the Red Lake Fisheries Association and the Red Lake Department of Natural Resources have operated a spawning station at the Blackduck River, which is the principal tributary to Lower Red Lake. Eggs collected at the station have been taken to the hatchery for incubation and rearing. All fry were then stocked into the reservation waters of Red Lake. Operations have been suspended due to the collaspes of the walleye stocks. Cooperative efforts are currently underway to recover the walleye population. Likely in the spring of 2003 spawning operations will commence again and will be an instrumental tool in recovering the walleye stocks.

New projects underway at the Red Lake hatchery include a 2700 gallon experimental recirculating perch aquaculture facility. Efforts are being made to determine if tank culture of yellow perch is a viable economic venture. Information has been collected since 1999 and over the next several years the outcome will be determined. Currently we are exploring the possibility of collecting and selling fertilized white sucker eggs to the State of Minnesota to assist in their musky rearing program. For further information on hatchery operations at Red Lake contact Pat Brown.

The Sokaogon Chippewa fish hatchery project started in 1990 when one Big Redd incubation unit was obtained from the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission. With that unit the tribe began an initiative to reproduce and stock walleye and has continued to grow as the tribe seeks to expand the hatchery's capacity and improve the facility.

In 1992 with the addition of three Big Redd units, a total of 902,000 walleye fry were hatched. Fifty thousand of those fry were donated to the Forest County Walleye Association. Remaining fry were released into area lakes speared by the Sokaogon Chippewa.

In 1993, three million walleye eggs were collected from speared walleye in six lakes with a resulting hatch of approximately two million walleye fry. The current hatchery is presently under re-construction. The Sokaogon Chippewa look forward to a more successful rearing seasons once the new hatchery facility is completed.

The St. Croix Tribe's walleye management program is an integral part of the tribes cooperative work to maintain Wisconsins fishery for future generations. The tribe began stocking in 1980, first buying their fingerlings from other tribes. In 1987, St. Croix signed a cooperative rearing agreement with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. With the DNR supplying fry and technical assistance, the tribe leased farm ponds to raise the fish.

In 1989, the tribe hired a biologist to lead the project. Today the tribe employs four full-time and three part-time fisheries specialists in its Natural Resources Department and has invested over $225,000 in hatchery equipment and facilities.

St. Croix began collecting and incubating walleye eggs in 1990. Fisheries staff collect eggs in the spring from adult walleye netted in area lakes. The eggs hatch in three to four weeks in the Tribe's custom built incubators. Staff transport the fry to rented farm ponds used to grow the walleye to fingerling size. Harvest crews begin netting the fish from the ponds about six weeks later.

Since 1987, St. Croix has stocked over 1.7 million walleye fingerlings and yearlings and 4.2 million walleye fry. The fish have been planted in 33 publicly accessible lakes used by tribal harvesters in the northwestern Wisconsin counties of Barron, Burnett, Douglas, Polk, and Washburn.

St. Croix has operated a walleye population assessment electrofishing boat since 1991 in cooperation with the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission. The tribes crew conducts about 5 spring adult walleye population estimates and 40 fall juvenile walleye abundance surveys annually throughout the 1837 and 1842 ceded territory.

The White Earth Hatchery, managed through the tribe's biology department, has been in production since 1982. The hatchery is located south of Ice Cracking Lake in Minnesota and is operated for the benefit of the White Earth Reservation's Chippewa people. Reservation lakes have been the target of the hatchery's stocking program since its inception. In 1992, a record 202,575 walleyes were stocked in 36 lakes and one river. A total of 514,385 walleyes have been stocked since the program began in 1983.

Like other tribal hatcheries, the facility has continued to improve and expand over the years. Expansion included the construction of four, acre rearing ponds capable of producing 140,000 walleye fingerlings per year, a new settling pond, a lake pumping station, and a well head filtration protection unit. In addition, the hatchery has improved both site security and site maintenance. The fishery program also operates 10-15 natural ponds for an additional 70,000 walleye fingerlings per year.

In addition, new technologies that are being applied to walleye and other cool/coldwater species culture will soon be implemented. The current goal is to stabilize production at approximately 50,000 fingerlings per year throughout the fish hatchery's rearing pond complex and natural ponds.

The tribe is actively managing seventy four lakes. Current fishery management operations include electrofishing lakes to help determine the level of natural reproduction, lake population assessments, winterkill and stocking assessments, and creel census.

Starting Out In Aquaculture, PLANNING AND PROFESSIONAL HELP PAY OFF 
By : Clint W. Wendt, Northern Environmental Technologies, Inc.
1203 Storbeck Drive, Waupun, Wisconsin 53963, (800) 498-3921