I am working on trying to get a document together and posted on our LM webpage with some of the data and slides and such that you all have seen at all these meetings. It's a long process though... so in the meantime I put together this written summary of the meeting. I probably missed something, so if any of the attendees remember it let me know and I'll add
DNR’s State of Lake Presentation Summary from February 2019 coho club meeting
1) A major focus of the meeting was talking about lakewide management processes. Many state, federal, and university partners cooperate to manage Lake Michigan. The Lake Michigan Committee (LMC) is made up of a DNR representative each from Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and the CORA (tribes). The LMC makes the big-picture management decisions such as stocking policies, fish community objectives, and other management plans. The Great Lakes Fisheries Commission webpage for the Lake Michigan Committee
www.glfc.org/lake-michigan-committee.php has a lot of great resources listed under “Publications and Products” such as the most current salmon stocking strategy, status of yellow perch, lake trout working group report, and so on. It also has recorded presentations from the Lake Committee meetings under “Presentations”. You can watch these on Youtube. They have tons of great info on the ongoing science, research, and management projects happening around the lake
2) We spent some time talking about the upcoming renegotiation (in 2020) of the 2000 Consent Decree, which defines how the Native American tribes and the State of Michigan will cooperatively manage the ceded waters from the 1836 Treaty of Washington. Indiana is not involved at all in the Consent Decree since it is a treaty involving the federal government, the State of Michigan, and the tribes - but some of the repercussions from the decision will affect lakewide management. Particularly the level of lake trout stocked within the ceded waters, and possibly other species. More about the treaty and consent decree here
www.michigan.gov/documents/dnr/2000_Grea...9.28.17_604500_7.pdf
www.glifwc.org/publications/pdf/1836TreatyFisheryGuide.pdf
3) We also discussed the current salmon stocking management and the Predator Prey Ratio. The current data has not come out yet, and is delayed due to the federal government shutdown. Much of the data and the modeling processes rely on or are completed by federal partners. The PPR seems to be more stable than it has been in recent history. The past couple years have been near the target level. You can view the current Stocking Strategy, which includes discussion of the PPR, here
www.glfc.org/pubs/lake_committees/michig...ber%202018_Final.pdf
4) There have not been reports issued about the 2018 Lake Michigan prey assessment yet – those were delayed by the federal shutdown. Anecdotally, there was an uptick in baitfish abundance in 2018, which is a great thing. However, the news is not all positive. The 2017 estimate of alewife biomass was 17% higher than the 2015 estimate, but we are still less than 40% of the alewife biomass observed in 2011. So while things are trending up, we still have a long way to go to get back to the bait levels seen even 6 or 7 years ago
5) Alewife age structure is still “truncated” – dominated by 1 and 2 year old fish. There are almost no alewife in the lake that are 3 years or older. In the past, there would be a considerable amounts of 3-8 year old alewife. They are getting eaten before they can turn 3 and 4 years old. This means fewer chances to spawn, and also means that if we have consecutive poor to nonexistent alewife spawns we could go to zero alewife within a couple years, as the existing trout and salmon in the lake can eat all the alewife and there would be no replacement of young alewife following 2 years of bad spawns
6) We spent a lot of time talking about return of skamania steelhead, coho salmon, and chinook salmon to “terminal fisheries”. Terminal fisheries are those in which anglers are targeting the adult trout and salmon that are returning to spawn. That means shore, stream, and nearshore boat fishing during June-September for Skamania steelhead, and September-November for salmon. Coho and chinook return rates have declined substantially to terminal fisheries in Indiana over the past 5+ years, whereas steelhead have remained stable or even increased. This is mostly a function of lake conditions – steelhead are larger when stocked, which helps them avoid predation a bit better, and perhaps more importantly they have a more diverse diet than coho or chinook. Reduced forage base not only means less food for trout and salmon to eat, but also means that with the much clearer water and less food for other predators, baby trout and salmon are a more enticing meal for predators.
7) The stocking change for coho salmon on the St. Joseph River (enacted in 2015/2016) has been a resounding success. By switching from 6 inch fall fingerlings stocked in November to 8 inch yearlings stocked in April, the return rate has gone from less than 1% to almost 6%. This means that we are seeing about 5000 to 6000 coho in downtown South Bend in September/October. By growing fish larger and keeping them in the hatchery longer, we protect them from predation and ensure they only have to spend a couple weeks in the river before leaving for the lake in late April/May. Note that this is not possible for chinook salmon, since they only spend a few months in the hatchery before smolting and imprinting as they go out to the lake, whereas coho and steelhead spend about a year and a half in the hatchery and smolt/imprint as 1.5 year olds instead of at 6 months old like chinooks.
8 ) (edited because for some reason it changed 8 to a smiley face...) Ongoing stocking of chinooks: Indiana stocked 67,579 chinooks last year (up from about 63,229 in 2017) and plans to target 75,000 kings for 2019 and forward. This is an increase over the previous 60,000 target. These fish are getting rotated annually between the East Branch of the Little Calumet and Trail Creek. You can look up lakewide stockings, including Indiana’s, here
www.glfc.org/fishstocking/exactsearch.htm. All states submit stocking reports to the database. 2018 stocking numbers are not on their yet, typically they are updated in early spring of the year following stocking, as it takes time to compile all the data from the states and verify accuracy before uploading.
9) Steelhead mass marking – you will start catching steelhead that have their adipose fin clipped. These fish have a coded wire tag (CWT). Our management relies upon having as much information as possible – please look for these CWT steelhead and turn their heads into the DNR! If you want to learn more or partner with the DNR, please email us at
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
10) We spent a decent amount of time talking about the considerations for stocking – the how, what, why, and where.
a. How: In Indiana we are fortunate to have excellent opportunities for shore anglers, boat anglers, and stream anglers. We try to balance opportunities so that everybody can have access to a good fishery for their chosen method of fishing
b. When and What: We also are fortunate in Indiana to have almost year-round fishing opportunities for trout and salmon. We try to diversify our stocking mix to provide opportunities for shore/stream/nearshore boat anglers in late winter and early spring (coho and browns), summer (skamania steelhead), fall (coho and chinook), and winter into early spring (winter-run steelhead)
c. Where – different modes of fishing, quality of access, quality of habitat, and proximity to population centers or transportation corridors all are considerations for stocking actions
d. Why: we try to balance the above (geographical and seasonal opportunities) with information about which species survive and return best to each location
e. All these considerations are tough to balance and mean that we can’t provide everything to everybody during every time of the year. However, the DNR does its best to balance all these aspects to provide good fisheries in multiple places throughout the year
