According to Michigan's Department of Natural Resources, Chinook salmon are experiencing a decline in Lake Huron.

"Recreational harvest of Chinook salmon has virtually vanished in the southern two-thirds of Lake Huron," said acting DNR Fisheries Division Chief Jim Dexter. "It's obvious the forage base is no longer available to support large numbers of Chinooks in Lake Huron."

Analysis of recreational catch data shows only the northern portion of Lake Huron continues to produce a viable recreational fishery.

Due to the poor return and harvest of stocked Chinooks, Michigan DNR plans to reduce Chinook salmon stocking in Lake Huron by more than half in 2012, compared to 2011 levels.

DNR consulted with the Chippewa-Ottawa Resource Authority, the Lake Huron Citizen Fishery Advisory Committee, Ontario fisheries officials, and held three public meetings in the Lake Huron Basin before making the reductions.

source: Michigan Department of Natural Resources

Lake Erie anglers fishing in Pennsylvania waters will be allowed 30 yellow perch and six walleye per day for 2012. On April 20, 2012, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) released its 2012 Lake Erie yellow perch creel limits.

Earlier in 2012, PFBC adopted new regulations establishing adaptive creel limits for walleye and yellow perch based on the annual quotas established by the Lake Erie Committee, which consists of fisheries managers from Pa., Ohio, N.Y., Mich., and Ontario, Canada.

A recent assessment showed that both yellow perch and walleye populations remain stable. Based on this, the creel limits are being held at the 2011 limits.

source:  PFBC

Management of Lake Erie's walleye and yellow perch fisheries has undergone several important changes in recent years. The Lake Erie Percid Management Advisory Group (LEPMAG) was established by the Lake Erie Committee in 2010.

The group facilitates discussions among state and provincial management agencies on Lake Erie and stakeholders and provides input to the Lake Erie Committee concerning management of the region's walleye and yellow perch stocks.

LEPMAG participants include Lake Erie Committee members, biologists, recreational and commercial fishers, and personnel from the Quantitative Fisheries Center at Michigan State University.

Each year, the Lake Erie Committee recommends a total allowable catch for walleye and yellow perch. Total allowable catch represents the number or weight of fish that can be caught by sport and commercial fishers without putting the stocks and fisheries at risk. The individual agencies implement the recommended total allowable catch.

The Lake Erie Committee comprises fishery managers from Michigan, New York, Ohio, Ontario and Pennsylvania. The committee’s work is facilitated by the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, a Canadian and U.S. agency on the Great Lakes.

For more information, visit the Lake Erie Committee online at www.glfc.org/lec

source: Lake Erie Committee

In January, 2012, the Great Lakes Commission and the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence Cities Initiative released a joint study of invasive species. The research focuses on stopping the movement of invasive species between the Mississippi and Great Lakes basins.

The study is the first major effort to provide failsafe solutions to preventing the movement of aquatic invasive species between the two watersheds. Among the solutions presented are ways in which the Mississippi River and Great Lakes basins can be re-separated,

Scientific evidence indicates that bighead and silver carps would find portions of the Great Lakes basin to be suitable places to live and reproduce, likely causing ecosystem disruption, and loss of valuable fishery resources. Science behind the Asian carp threat adds pointed urgency for action on the separation study.

"Science indicates that, like the sea lamprey and zebra mussel, bighead and silver carps are likely to become permanent components of the Great Lakes if they become established in the system. We simply must not let new species—particularly ones as large and prolific as the silver and bighead carps—into the Great Lakes" said Robert Lambe, chair of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission.

source: Great Lakes Commission

The Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee (ACRCC) recently released its 2011 Asian Carp Monitoring and Rapid Response Plan (MRRP), outlining an aggressive set of actions to track and remove Asian carp in the Upper Illinois River and the Chicago Area Waterway System (CAWS) to prevent this invasive species from establishing in the Great Lakes.

The 2011 MRRP, which represents an estimated $7 million Federal investment, is designed with the flexibility to respond to new threats. Project plans can be categorized geographically as occurring either upstream or downstream of the electric dispersal barrier and grouped into the following five categories:

MONITORING PROJECTS

Includes the use of electrofishing and contract commercial fishermen to detect presence and location of any Asian carp DNA both above and below the barrier; continued use of eDNA to detect potential presence of carp above the barrier; and monitoring for small Asian carp to track where reproduction is occurring.

BARRIER EFFECTIVENESS EVALUATIONS

Efforts will include the use of telemetry to follow the movements of tagged surrogate species to assess movement near the dispersal barrier and through locks; use of sonar to track fish movement and caged fish to determine the effectiveness of the dispersal barrier; and monitoring for potential Asian carp spawning in the Des Plaines River to assess risk of eggs and larval fish passing through the barrier fence during flood events.

REMOVAL PROJECTS

Efforts include contracting commercial fishermen to remove Asian carp downstream of the barrier; a rapid response process should any Asian carp be detected upstream of the dispersal barrier; and suppressing Asian carp during maintenance of the electric dispersal barriers.

TECHNOLOGY EFFECTIVENESS EVALUATIONS AND DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS

Efforts will evaluate efficiency and detection probability of technology currently in use for Asian carp monitoring, develop enhancements, and generate ideas for development of new approaches for capturing or repelling small populations of Asian carp.

ALTERNATIVE PATHWAY SURVEILLANCE

Efforts will include expanded education and enforcement activities at locations where live fish would most likely be transported and continued surveillance efforts.

MRRP projects for 2011 also include developing and testing hydroguns that emit high-pressure underwater sound waves to repel Asian carp.

source: Illinois DNR

A fish kill involving gizzard shad which occurred in southeast Michigan is a natural event due to harsh winter weather conditions and a large year-class, according to the state's Department of Natural Resources and Environment.

The department received reports of fish die-offs in southern Michigan beginning shortly after the New Year. The reports are coming from the St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, the Detroit River and Lake Erie.

Gizzard shad are native to the Great Lakes with the exception of Lake Superior. Shad can be seen concentrated at warm water discharges of industrial plants.

Gizzard shad are an important forage fish, providing a high-energy food resource for predator species such as walleye, muskellunge, smallmouth bass and northern pike. Like many forage fish species, annual abundance of gizzard shad can vary drastically between years.

Shad are filter feeders, feeding on both zooplankton and phytoplankton, and can reach a size of 19 inches. However, most of the gizzard shad involved in the fish die-offs are five to six inches long. There was a very large hatch of shad this spring throughout the St. Clair system, resulting in large schools of these young shad.

Anglers along Lake St. Clair have reported seeing large schools of these fish passing through their ice holes while perch fishing. According to the department, the public should expect to see more shad die-offs through the winter and into spring.
 

source: Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment