"This will be the first comprehensive study of lake sturgeon throughout Lake Michigan," says Rob Elliott, fisheries biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and project coordinator for this basinwide study. The study is being funded through grants from the Great Lakes Fisheries Trust and the Giovanni Auletta Armenise Harvard Foundation for Advanced Scientific Study.
The project partners include 10 researchers from four universities and four governmental resources agencies. They include: Dr. Kim Scribner from Michigan State University, Dr. Nancy Auer from Michigan Technological University, Dr. Trent Sutton from Purdue University, Dr. Doug Peterson from the University of Georgia, Dr. Ed Baker from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Tom Meronek, Terry Lychwick and Greg Kornely from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Marty Holtgren from the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, and Elliott from the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service Green Bay Fishery Resources Office.
Contemporaries of dinosaurs, lake sturgeon have been around for millions of years. They once numbered in the millions in Lake Michigan but habitat destruction, water pollution, the building of dams, and heavy commercial fishing that accompanied the rapid settlement of this region in the late 1800s nearly wiped them out. By 1900, the number of these giant fish left in Lake Michigan was less than 1 percent of what had been present just 50 years before. Today, an optimistic guess places the total number of mature adult sturgeon in Lake Michigan between 1,000-3,000 fish, and they are considered either endangered, threatened or of special concern by the states and agencies around Lake Michigan. Elliott, who appropriately hails from Sturgeon Bay, WI, is hopeful that the few sturgeon that remain in Lake Michigan are able to stage a slow come-back. "In the meantime, we need to do our best to protect those that are left and to improve the habitat in which they live" Elliott explains. "This requires learning a good bit more about how well they are doing and finding ways to minimize the most severe impediments to their recovery."
Lake Michigan rivers in which sturgeon are currently known or thought to spawn and that will be studied during this project include the Fox, Oconto, Peshtigo, and Menominee Rivers of Green Bay and the Manistique, Manistee, Muskegon, St. Joseph and Kalamazoo rivers in Michigan. "Sturgeon have been observed in each of these rivers in recent years and some research has been ongoing for a few years in some of these rivers by researchers involved in this study. But in general, we have very little information on how many sturgeon are using Lake Michigans rivers, how successful their spawning efforts are, how genetically distinct fish from different rivers are, or if their numbers are increasing or declining," said Elliott. "This research is really the first step in determining what the rehabilitation needs are for this species in Lake Michigan. Successfully conducting this type of lake-wide study requires a strong team effort and is a credit to all the people involved" said Elliott.
There may eventually be interest in stocking some rivers in Lake Michigan with hatchery reared sturgeon in order to reestablish populations, but this must be done carefully. "Preliminary results suggest that many of the remaining populations around the Great Lakes may be genetically distinct" explains Dr. Kim Scribner of Michigan State University. "If so, it may be important to match fish that are genetically adapted to the characteristics of a river when deciding to stock hatchery raised fish. You also dont want to compromise the genetics of fish that are currently spawning in rivers around the lake by introducing fish with different genetic characteristics into nearby waters" says Scribner. "Genetics can be a very important tool in studying fish populations and in restoring a species to a river where they are now absent." Dr. Scribner and graduate student Pat DeHaan will be analyzing samples from sturgeon collected by the other researchers from each of the Lake Michigan rivers to determine the genetic characteristics of each population.
Overall cost of the basinwide project is expected to exceed $800,000. Funding from the Great Lakes Fishery Trust will contribute $359,000, the Giovanni Auletta Armenise Harvard Foundation for Advanced Scientific Studies will contribute $190,000, with additional in-kind contributions coming from each of the agencies and institutions involved in the study.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principle 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 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses nearly 540 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 service 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 more information about the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Great Lakes - Big Rivers Region, visit our home page at http://midwest.fws.gov">
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