Approximately 300 eggs were collected from each female trout and kept in separate compartments for the first month. said Keweenaw Bay Fish Hatchery manager Mike Donofrio. Continuously flowing fresh water helps keep the eggs well oxygenated and iodine treatments reduce the chance of disease, which is one of our main goals.
This falls efforts in Lake Superior were part of a 1997 Cooperative Agreement between the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Service and Community work in cooperation with Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the Chippewa Ottawa Treaty Fishery Management Authority to collect the eggs. The Keweenaw Bay Indian Fish Hatchery plays a vital role in providing the special isolation conditions for the fishes critical early development. Three health inspections held during the two-year period indicate the status of the fishes health. After two years, the eight- to ten- inch long fish will be moved to the Services Iron River National Fish Hatchery in northern Wisconsin. In exchange, the Service will provide 100,000 yearling lake trout and 7,000 yearling brook trout to Keweenaw Bay and Keweenaw Bay Indian Community reservation waters.
Iron River Hatchery Manager Dale Bast explained These young fish become the broodstock broodstock
The reproductively mature adults in a population that breed (or spawn) and produce more individuals (offspring or progeny).
Learn more about broodstock for the next generation of lake trout that can be then stocked back into parts of the Great Lakes where wild fish arent reproducing in sufficient numbers. Along with sea lamprey control and habitat restoration, periodic stocking of lake trout is critical toward restoring wild lake trout populations in Lakes Superior, Huron and Michigan.
The eggs held at the Keweenaw facility should hatch over the next six weeks, at which point they are again separated and moved into larger rearing units. Members of the media and public are invited to view and photograph the fish during this stage by contacting Mike Donofrio at 906/524-5757
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 93-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses more than 530 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 66 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 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://midwest.fws.gov
