Hello Salmon Ambassadors!
Results from 2016 are now available. Fact sheets for participating ports and regions can be found at:
www.miseagrant.umich.edu/…/…/2016-Results-by-Port.pdf
After the end of the 2016 season, 56 anglers returned surveys and 38 anglers returned useful data on 2,015 Chinook salmon. Trends in % wild around Lake Michigan and northern Lake Huron were very similar to 2015, but survey results showed some dramatic changes for the 2016 season. The summary below will also be available online tomorrow at the MSU Extension website (
msue.anr.msu.edu/experts/daniel_o_keefe).
Increased angler satisfaction in Wisconsin
Overall angler satisfaction among volunteers increased in 2016. On a scale of one to five (five being the highest), average satisfaction with fishing experiences increased from 2.4 in 2015 to 3.1 in 2016. While this was encouraging, most of the increase was due to improvements in fishing on the west side of Lake Michigan, and in Wisconsin in particular.
In Wisconsin waters, angler satisfaction increased from 2.5 in 2015 to 4.2 in 2016. This coincided with big increases in catches of Chinook salmon, coho salmon, brown trout, and steelhead reported by Wisconsin DNR (lake trout catch decreased in Wisconsin waters in 2016).
In Michigan, anglers did not fare so well – perhaps in part due to weather patterns that kept cool water along the Wisconsin shore for much of the summer. Angler satisfaction for Salmon Ambassadors fishing Michigan waters of Lake Michigan remained relatively low (2.4 in 2015; 2.5 in 2016).
Lake Huron anglers fared better, with volunteers in the northern part of the lake reporting that angler satisfaction increased from 2.3 in 2015 to 4.6 in 2016. The number of fish caught by Lake Huron volunteers also increased dramatically, from only 35 Chinook salmon in 2015 to 159 in 2016.
Wild salmon still dominate catches, particularly in Michigan
Since the lakewide program began in 2014, wild Chinook salmon have outnumbered stocked in all areas of Lake Michigan. In Michigan waters, % wild has consistently been highest at ports like Manistee and Ludington, which are located at the mouths of rivers that offer excellent spawning habitat to migrating salmon.
Results from Michigan waters in 2016 found:
- 83% wild in Manistee (including Onekema)
- 86% wild in the Ludington area (including Pentwater)
- 68% wild in the Grand Haven area (Whitehall to Saugatuck)
- 67% wild in southwest Michigan (South Haven to St. Joseph)
In Wisconsin, stocked fish made up a slightly larger portion of the catch. This is probably due to a combination of factors including the lack of good spawning rivers in Wisconsin, higher number of stocked Chinook salmon in Wisconsin waters, and higher survival rate for Chinooks stocked in Wisconsin waters.
Results from Wisconsin waters in 2016 found:
- 59% wild in Door Peninsula (including Kewaunee to Washington Island)
- 60% wild in southern Wisconsin (including all ports form Sheboygan south to the state line)
Volunteers in Illinois and Indiana found that 70% of Chinook salmon in their catches were wild, while those fishing northern Lake Huron from the Mackinaw Straits to Rogers City found that only 33% of their catch was wild. This is likely due to the good number of mature ‘kings’ being caught in Rogers City as they returned to the Swan River in late summer.
Narrow margin of support for Lake Michigan stocking cuts
A proposal to reduce Chinook salmon in Lake Michigan was announced in June 2016. While the vast majority of anglers were supportive the 2013 stocking cut, the 2016 proposal was met with mixed reactions. Opponents of the proposed 62% Chinook salmon stocking reduction called for additional cuts to lake trout stocking.
Salmon Ambassadors were asked about their support for, or opposition to, a revised proposal that included a 21% reduction to lake trout stocking and a 50% reduction to Chinook salmon stocking. Volunteers expressed strong opinions on both sides of the issue, and many offered insightful comments regarding the state of the fishery and the need to adjust to a rapidly-changing ecosystem.
All in all, 51% of volunteers who responded to the survey question (N=55) supported the revised stocking proposal. For Wisconsin and Michigan anglers, state of residence did not have a significant effect on support or opposition. Volunteers from Wisconsin and Michigan demonstrated similarly high knowledge of Great Lakes fisheries biology, and anglers from both states were also similar in their moderate level of trust in the ability of science to reflect actual conditions in Lake Michigan.
Volunteers trusted % Wild calculations more than other fisheries statistics, perhaps because of their own involvement in collecting this data. On a scale of 1 to 5 (with 5 being the highest), volunteers rated their trust in % wild at 4.0 as opposed to 3.5 for general trust in fisheries science and 3.0 for trust in estimates of alewife biomass. Most anglers agreed or strongly agreed that participation in Salmon Ambassadors made them more aware of what is going on in the Lake Michigan fishery (average 4.7 on the five-point scale).
Thank you for your support of the Salmon Ambassadors program and your contributions to the fishery!
Dan
Dan O'Keefe, Ph.D.
Southwest District Extension Educator
Michigan Sea Grant
Michigan State University Extension
12220 Fillmore St., Suite 122
West Olive, MI 49460
phone - (616) 994-4572
fax - (616) 994-4579
