The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is launching a study this November to determine whether rivers like the Muskegon could serve as alternative spawning areas for lake whitefish, a species facing steep population declines in Lakes Michigan and Huron.
Researchers will tag adult lake whitefish with acoustic telemetry devices and stock them in the Muskegon River between Croton Dam and the river mouth. The acoustic tags, approximately the diameter of an AA battery, will be attached near the fish's dorsal fin. Receiver stations anchored on the river bottom will collect data from the tags as fish swim by.
Lake whitefish populations have declined dramatically since a peak in the 1990s. Commercial catches and yield are currently at their lowest levels in three decades, according to Matt Herbert, senior conservation scientist with The Nature Conservancy's Great Lakes Sustainable Fisheries Program. Threats including habitat loss, pollution and invasive species — especially quagga mussels — have altered the food web in Lakes Michigan and Huron, threatening juvenile whitefish survival.
If lake whitefish can use rivers to spawn, that could open new habitat for the species and help mitigate population decline. "There are historical accounts of lake whitefish spawning runs in rivers throughout the Great Lakes," Herbert said. "We are trying to encourage the lake whitefish to re-establish their spawning behavior here so that juvenile whitefish can hatch and grow in this environment where they have a more plentiful food supply than in the Great Lakes."
The project is led by a team from the DNR, The Nature Conservancy, Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, Bay Mills Indian Community and Grand Valley State University.
Anglers fishing the Muskegon River are asked to release any tagged whitefish they catch and report any harvest to Scott Heintzelman at the DNR or Matt Herbert at The Nature Conservancy. Boaters and others on the water should avoid moving receiver stations.