On Oct 6th two of our Board members attended the Lake Michigan Citizens Fishery Advisory Committee meeting. As always, we would like to keep our members and the public informed on issues affecting our fishery. We can tell you the overall attitude of this meeting was optimism towards our future. There is growing scientific and anecdotal data that shows Lake Michigan has turned the corner and is headed in the right direction for our silver fishery. And with this we have seen increased Chinook stocking in Michigan waters from a low of 330,000 in 2017 to 860,000 in 2021. The GLSI formed to help save our king salmon fishery and we are thrilled to see the progress made over the last few years. The Fishery Advisory Committee members agreed to recommend the State of Michigan stock 1,000,000 kings for 2022 and 2023.
GLSI has been collaboratively working on and submitting future Chinook stocking proposals to MDNR and other angling associations since this summer. We are proud to say that these proposals were close to the final agreement. The proposal agreed upon by the Citizens Fishery Advisory Committee will be presented to MDNR Leadership for approval. If approved there, it goes to the Lake Michigan Technical Committee comprised of managers from all Lake Michigan states and tribal representatives for final approval.
Jay Wesley gave a presentation on Cormorants, and we are very encouraged by progress to manage and control them. Michigan was awarded permits to lethally control over 11,000 cormorants in 2021. These permits are issued by the Dept of Agriculture. Considerable effort was made by Randy Claramunt, Lake Huron Basin Coordinator, to obtain these permits and with that Michigan received more than any other single state in the US. We are also very pleased that work is underway for a process to obtain and notify volunteers when stocking is to take place to provide non-lethal deterrence to protect smolts from avian predation. We know many anglers have asked for this and the GSLI is committed to help with communications and volunteers to make this happen. We will provide more info in late winter and spring to help organize this effort.
Jay Wesley also gave a presentation on the new online creel dashboard; it is a resource to check creel results. Here is a link to look up results, somewhat similar to the stocking database:
app.powerbigov.us/view...
Michigan Sea Grant reviewed success with the new Angler Diary program last year. Their priority last year and this year is to collect information on steelhead in our rivers. There is serious need for more scientific data on steelhead regarding wild production, angler effort and creel results, especially on rivers. They are looking to increase involvement this year. You can follow this link to learn more and participate in this important project. We hope more volunteers will help so we can improve our steelhead fishery. Here is a link:
mailchi.mp/.../december-steelhead-meeting-5030237...
We encourage you to renew your membership in the Great Lakes Salmon Initiative to support our efforts to improve our Great Lakes Fishery. You can renew here for as little as $20:
glsalmon.org/great-lakes-salmon-initiative.../