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The southern end is completely out of balance and I feel the alewives and salmon are paying the price. Over the years I've watched the salmon plants get cut multiple times to take pressure off the alewives while the Lake Trout stocking continues on as if nothing is happening. Granted the mussels have compounded the problem but more so for the salmon than the trout.
If solutions are to be found we have to first identify the problems. If I remember right the Julian's Reef fish have moved onto the Waukegan reefs and are naturally reproducing there also.

"I think it’s awesome that our DNR is having a discussion with us and IS LISTENING to us. From the sounds of things last spring, I got the impression that scrapping the kings altogether and using the space in the hatchery for more steelhead was what the managers believed was the best strategy.[/quote]

X2 I left with the same impression but don't know how to say goodbye to the fish that kept me coming back for more.

I don’t want to give give up on the kings either. I’m glad we’re keeping our limited plant.

Cormorants are ugly and I doubt they’re doing any good for us, they’re definitely another set of mouths to feed. But having said that, Ben told us last spring that not a single coded wire tag was detected in a biological survey of cormorant colonies. I think he said no salmon dna was found either. The cormorants aren’t eating the smolts.

As for the size Mike, Ben addressed that last spring as well. The time frame stocking the kings is not variable. They have to be stocked in April/May at that size. The steelhead and coho are more flexible and can be raised to a larger size before they are stocked, which is what they have been doing and why they think the returns are better for those species.

The best things we can probably do are to advocate for protection from continued invasive species introduction. ( I know how the room feels about regulations.). And maybe hope, pray, and donate for research to try to control the mussels.

Out of the 168,000 eye up eggs we will probably end up with a much smaller number of king smolts. That number will produce enough king smolts for a 1 port stocking.

Best discussion this board has had for along time. Another reason why this board is important. With covid not going away any time soon the best ways to have a discussion on items of interest is over the computer. Maybe we can do the spring meetings by zoom?????

I found a way to memorialize our Chinook stocking program Ed . We're calling it DOA

StormJunkie wrote:

I found a way to memorialize our Chinook stocking program Ed . We're calling it DOA

Dave your killing me,,,,,,,,, beautiful work and love the name!!!!!

So cool looking! Great job.

Those spoons look fantastic!

Cormorants damaging fish populations
By Mary Drier, For the Tribune Published 6:05 am EST, Saturday, February 29, 2020

UPPER THUMB — There is another culprit in the decline of the fish population in the Great Lakes other than commercial fisheries, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

It is estimated there are about 230,000 double-crested cormorants around the Great Lakes, each eating an estimated 1.3 to 1.6 pounds of fish a day. That equals more than 77 million pounds of fish per year, according to a report from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

The birds eat minnows, alewives, shad, round gobies, other prey-fish, and they also devour significant numbers of yellow perch, stocked trout, salmon, walleye, pike, and panfish.

Around the Great Lakes, prey-fish populations are already greatly reduced, and in Lake Huron they are reduced by 80-90%.

“Cormorants are uncontrolled and wreaking havoc on our Great Lakes," said Lakon Williams, who manages the Bay Port Fish Company. "Since the Zebra Mussel invasion, the lakes and the water are cleaner than ever."


“Cormorants are a sight feeder that can see up to 40 feet in the water," she said. "With the water being clearer fish have no where to hide."

“When going out fishing on Saginaw Bay, it is common to see a black swarm of cormorants gorging themselves. It is a horrific sight to see, these birds need population controls,” she added.

Double-crested cormorants are an equal opportunity predator. They eat whatever they can catch in their beak. Cormorants have been recorded schooling fish up into shallower water and then they take turns diving to feed. They have been noted to dive up to 150 feet and are routinely diving 30 feet or more to feed in the Great Lakes.

MDNR research has established a link between cormorants preying on fish populations and their decline in the Saginaw Bay, the Great Lakes, and the Les Cheneaux perch fishery.

Stocking of trout and salmon is impractical when cormorant numbers at stocking sites become excessive, and this continues to happen throughout lakes Michigan and Huron.

“We desperately need cormorant control again,” said Don Kain, who is the lead administrator for the Facebook group “Save Our Fish,” focusing on environmental issues that affects fisheries. “I believe this to be a huge problem. I don't want all cormorants killed, but we clearly need population control.”

I’d like to see a graph showing mussel population, water clarity, cormorant population, and game fish populations. I’d being willing to bet cormorant numbers really took off about the same time the water cleared up. I don’t have anything against controlling them, but I think they’re more of a scapegoat than the actual problem.