2014 Clean Rivers Clean Lake -- Evening Program-Lake Michigan Fisheries, Current Challenges, Future...

FISHERIES MANAGEMENT……………………..….. we make fishing better

The Lake Michigan Fishery:

Current Challenges and Future

Bradley Eggold

Fisheries Supervisor

Wisconsin DNR

Outline

• Lake Michigan Ecosystem

• Impacts of Aquatic invasive species

• Current status of food producers

• Chinook salmon Natural Reproduction

• Lake Whitefish

• Lake Sturgeon

1/5 OF THE

WORLD’S

AVAILABLE

FRESH WATER

RELATIVELY

WATERSHED

NATURAL

BARRIER

BALANCED NATIVE FISH POPULATION

TOP PREDATORS:

NEARSHORE

COMMUNITY

Native

Invertebrates

NATURAL

BARRIER

1830’s

1950’s

By 1967 up to 85% of the Lake

Michigan fishery biomass was

tied up in alewife flesh

1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

Great Lakes Water

Quality Agreement

Fish biomass

phosphorus

round goby

spiny water

zebra mussel

Sea lamprey control;

salmon stocking

quagga mussel

Daphnia

Bosmina

Cyclopoid copepod

Diaptomid copepod

Limnocalanus

Cladocerans Copepods

Crustacean Zooplankton 1998-2011

60 Limnocalanus

Calanoids

Cyclopoids

Predatory cladocerans

Daphnia

Non-dahnid cladocerans

Increasing

Decreasing

Daphnia

Bosmina

Cyclopoid copepod

Diaptomid copepod

Limnocalanus

Cladocerans Copepods

But too deep

and too large for

some to eat

1973 1978 1983 1988 1993 1998 2003 2008 2013

(kt) Bl oat er

Sl i m y scul pi n

Deepwat er s cul pi n

Rai nbow s m el t

Round goby

Ni nespi ne s t i ckl eback

Al ewi f e

Slimy sculpin0.32 kt

Bloater1.61 kt

Ninespine stickleback0.004 kt

Round goby10.81 kt

Alewife28.99 kt

Deepwater sculpin1.32 kt

Rainbow smelt0.22 kt

2013 prey fish

composition

Prey fish composition

Chinook Salmon

Strawberry Creek

Chinook Natural Reproduction:

Coded Wire Tag vs. Oxytetracycline

Lake Whitefish Re-colonization in

Wisconsin Tributaries of Green Bay

Menominee River

• In the mid-1800s large runs of whitefish and herring occurred in the Menominee River

• However, precipitous declines were measured by the late 1800s and were attributed to overfishing and habitat degradation from sawmills – whitefish extirpated

Wells and McLain, 1973

Early Signs of Recovery

1992 1993 1994 1995

FEMALES

Age Class Distribution

Recruitment

• Green Bay-wide CPE

deep sites

• Site closest to mouth of

Menominee River

Whitefish Movement

Green Bay Whitefish Sport Harvest

Photo:Alexander’s Sport Fishing

Poor Ice

Lake Michigan / Green Bay Whitefish

Harvest and Quota

Using a Streamside Rearing Facility

on the Milwaukee River for Lake Sturgeon Rehabilitation

Streamside Rearing Facility

Number of Lake Sturgeon stocked

in the Milwaukee River, 2003 - 2013

2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014

Fall Fingerlings

Spring Yearlings

Adult transfer

Streamside Rearing FacilityWild Rose

Fish Hatchery

Milwaukee River

Lake Sturgeon Recoveries

Spring 2013 – Spring Electrofishing surveys

April 22, 2013 – 2 sturgeon, 47.75 and 49.5, RV Finclip

April 25, 2013 – 2 sturgeon, 41.5 RV Finclip and 55” male with

PIT tag.

Summer 2013 – Lake Sturgeon Assessment

Stocking date of 10/02/2010, length at stocking 215mm, weight

41.3 grams. Length at capture 557 mm and weight 950 grams

Caught 5 more sturgeon. One sturgeon was from 2011, two

sturgeons from 2010 and one sturgeon from 2009 stockings out

of the Milwaukee River SRF. The fifth sturgeon did not contain

any PIT but was fin clipped with a RV clip.

A total of 11 lake sturgeon were

caught during this assessment

• 1 from 2009 MIL SRF stocking

• 1 recapture

• 1 with RV finclip – MIL SRF

1) Lake Sturgeon raised in the MIL SRF

seem to be surviving and some are staying in

the area - maybe as a juvenile nursery area.

2) We are getting pretty good growth on

these fish, about 5 inches per year

3) Both PIT tags and finclips are holding

through age 4

4) Survival from upstream stocking (River

Mile 20) does not seem to be an issue

QUESTIONS

2014 Clean Rivers Clean Lake -- Evening Program-Lake Michigan Fisheries, Current Challenges, Future...

Documents

2014 Clean Rivers Clean Lake Conference -- Watershed Restoration Success on the KK

Clean Rivers Clean Lake Brochure

Water Quality in the Caddo Lake Watershed Caddo Lake Water Quality Cypress Creek Clean Rivers Program

10th Annual Clean Rivers, Clean Lake conference program

Clean Rivers, Clean Lake --Tracking the Value of Green Infrastructure

Clean Rivers, Clean Lake 8 -- New Projects on KK and Menomonee Rivers -- Dave Fowler

Clean Rivers, Clean Lake 2014 -- Pay for Performance to Reduce Phosphorus Loss

2014 Clean Rivers, Clean Lake Conference: Morning Plenary --Sweet Water Recap

Clean Rivers, Clean Lake -- Rooftops to Rivers Study-- Karen Hobbs

Clean Rivers, Clean Lake 2014 -- MMSD Regional GI Plan and Permeable Pavement

Clean Rivers, Clean Lake 8 -- River Walk Investment -- Alyssa Remington

2014 Clean Rivers, Clean Lake Conference -- Lincoln Park and MKE River Channel Sediment Projects

Clean Rivers, Clean Lake 8 -- Rainwater Harvesting/Residential - Sharon Adams

Clean Rivers, Clean Lake -- Gaining Ground With TMDLs

Clean Rivers, Clean Lake 8 -- Restorative Economics -- Matt Howard

Clean Rivers, Clean Lake 8 -- Green Infrastructure Vision -- Jeffrey Mengler

Clean Rivers, Clean Lake 8 -- Menomonee Valley 2012 -- Laura Bray

Clean Rivers, Clean Lake -- Chloride Trading in IL

Slawski Clean Lake Rivers-100915

Clean Rivers Clean Lake -- Permeable Surfacing Lessons and Strategies