Fishery staff from the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Michigan, Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians of Michigan, and Little River Band of Ottawa Indians of Michigan, the U.S. Geological Survey Great Lakes Science Center, and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources will assist Service fishery biologists in surveying 31 lake trout spawning reefs across northern Michigan starting this week.
For the next three years, sampling will occur on reefs from Ludington, Michigan to Algoma, Wisconsin during the last two weeks in October through the first week in November. Contracted tribal or state licensed commercial fishers will use research gill nets eight hundred feet long on spawning reefs near Leland, and in waters near Michigans Upper Peninsula and the Wisconsin shore to assist fishery biologists. The nets will be set twice during the fall at two locations on each reef.
This project will not only teach us a great deal about the ability of stocked fish to repopulate a reef area, but how to improve lake trout stocking methods in general. said Mark Holey of the Services Green Bay, Wisconsin, Fishery Resources Office.
The Services Pendills Creek and Jordan River National Fish Hatcheries in Michigan, along with Iron River National Fish Hatchery in northern Wisconsin supply and help stock an average of two million lake trout into Lake Michigan each year. Since 1985, the majority of lake trout stocked into the lake have been transported by boat to be planted directly over the reefs chosen by fish managers. Managers select reefs that have the best chance of lake trout returning to them once they reach spawning age. But the funds to test the effectiveness of this method have been unavailable until now.
Funding for this research project has been provided by the Great Lakes Fishery Trust. said Holey. The Trust was created in 1998 to compensate the public for the past and future fish loss that results from the operation of the Ludington Pumped Storage Hydroelectric facility in Ludington, Michigan.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting, and enhancing fish and wildlife and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 93-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System comprising more than 500 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands, and other special management areas. It also operates 66 national fish hatcheries 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 wildlife agencies. For further information about the programs and activities of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Great Lakes-Big Rivers Region, please visit our home page at: http://www.fws.gov/r3pao/
