The Keweenaw Bay Indian Fish Hatchery is located in Michigans Upper Peninsula on the LAnse Indian Reservation, about 7 miles northeast of LAnse, Michigan, on Pequarming Road.
Those attending the event, at the Keweenaw Bay facility, can observe tribal and hatchery staffs load valuable coaster brook trout from Isle Royal, Michigan, for transfer to the Iron River NFH, in Wisconsin.
Successful lake and brook trout restoration in the Great Lakes is being achieved through cooperative efforts such as that being celebrated with the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, said Gerry Jackson, USFWS, Region 3 Assistant Regional Director for Fisheries. Fish hatcheries play an enormous role in achieving mutual benefits for interjurisdictional fishery resources and lake trout restoration. Midwestern tribes deserve much credit, as they have responded to the challenges of resource management in their unique role as users and managers of more than 900,000 acres of reservation inland lakes, treaty-ceded territories and the Great Lakes. Their contributions are not only vital to restoring these fish species, but they are greatly appreciated.
Dale Bast, Iron River National Fish Hatchery manager, added, This partnership fosters the continued integration of fish health and fish genetics into the USFWS captive broodstock broodstock
The reproductively mature adults in a population that breed (or spawn) and produce more individuals (offspring or progeny).
Learn more about broodstock program. We need disease-free broodstocks that represent the genetics of wild fish. The tribal fish hatchery first initiated a two-year cooperative program in September 1995, and that agreement has been renewed to the present, continuing the strong contributions toward restoration. For example, in the 1997 agreement, the Community provided fish isolation facilities for wild lake trout eggs from Klondike Reef, and Traverse Island, Michigan; and Apostle Islands, Wisconsin. The Community has continued to rear rare coaster brook trout through the required disease clearance period, including three separate fish health inspections. Under the 1999 agreement, Isle Royal, Michigan brook trout were successfully cultured.
According to Bast, this years project repeated its excellent results. The fish that were held in isolation were given the very best of care and, now that a disease history has been established, the fish will be transferred to the Iron River hatchery. There they can be safely used for further egg production and the subsequent fingerlings will be used to meet restoration stocking efforts throughout the Great Lakes basin.
The cooperative agreement also includes the production of 100,000 lake trout yearlings at the Iron River hatchery, and 6,000 brook trout from Genoa National Fish Hatchery, Wisconsin, in support of fish stocking priorities of the Indian Community.
Leonard Bill Cardinal, Community Tribal Chairman, said, Our agreements with the USFWS have further enabled us to cooperate in native fisheries restoration in the Great Lakes. The Community is pleased with the results of these agreements and looks forward to continuing work with the Service on other important natural resource projects.
Jackson added, This agreement with the Community is another example of how we work with our partners to meet the demands for new broodstocks until a long-term solution for isolation needs is achieved. It also supports the Department of Interiors trust relationship with tribal governments. And, just as important, the agreement will help us keep healthy native trout in the Great Lakes for all of the people in the region to enjoy.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 94-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses more than 535 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 70 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 78 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
For further information about programs and activities of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Great Lakes-Big Rivers Region, please visit our website at http://midwest.fws.gov
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