Lake Michigan Fishery workshop March 3rd

[Nailer]

Lake Michigan Fishery workshop March 3rd

Michigan Sea Grant is holding its annual fishery workshop March 3rd in Spring Lake, MI. The workshop will be held at the Barber School Community Bldg., 102 W. Exchange, Spring Lake, MI 49456.

Sea Grant agent Chuck Pistis tells us the topics to be discussed include:

-Arrival of Red Shrimp in Lake Michigan

-Brown Trout and Coho Salmon Management

-Avian Botulism in the Great Lakes

-VHS implications for fisheries

-Changing Lake Michigan forage base

A registration of $14 is due by February 27. Make checks payable to: Ottawa County MSU Extension, and mail to:

Ottawa County MSU Extension

Fishery Workshop

333 Clinton St

Grand Haven, MI 49417 ²

[STEINFISHSKI]

Did anyone attend this? I was out of town for this one but some great topics.

[Hamilton Reef]

Mixed bag for salmon industry

http://www.mlive.com/news/muchronicle/index.ssf?/base/news-11/1173109585270640.xml&coll=8

03/05/07 By Jeff Alexander jalexander@muskegonchronicle.com

Lake Michigan charter boat operators enjoyed another great year of salmon fishing in 2006, reeling in 81,600 chinook, according to the latest state data.

How long the good times will last is anybody's guess: The amount of fish food in the lake is decreasing, zebra mussels and other exotic species are causing ecological chaos and a fatal fish virus known as VHS will likely show up in Lake Michigan fish this year, according to one state fish biologist.

First, the good news: the Chinook salmon catch in Michigan's portion of Lake Michigan was down slightly from the previous year, but state officials who analyzed the data attributed that to a sluggish economy and fewer people booking charter fishing trips.

The catch rate for Chinook salmon -- the number of fish caught per five hours of angler effort -- increased last year, said Donna Wesander, a fisheries technician with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

"You did have a better year in 2006, you just had fewer excursions," Wesander told charter boat captains Saturday at a Lake Michigan fishery workshop in Spring Lake. "People may not have been calling to book trips, but the fish were there."

Anglers last year booked about 200 fewer charter fishing trips on Lake Michigan than in 2005, she said.

Charter boat captains at the meeting blamed the decrease in fishing trips on Michigan's struggling economy. Several captains said companies that normally book several charter fishing trips each year reduced the number of excursions last year, or did away with them altogether, to reduce expenses.

"Our fishing trips with businesses was only down marginally," said longtime Grand Haven charter boat captain Ken Whitney. "I'm more concerned about this year because so many people in that mid-salary range are losing their jobs."

Whitney said he fears the number of people who can afford a charter fishing trip -- which cost about $400 for a six-hour trip for six people -- could drop if unemployment rates and gas prices rise again this summer.

Economic concerns aside, charter captains said there were plenty of fish and the Chinook were larger than the last couple of years.

Each charter fishing trip last year netted an average of 8.9 fish from the salmon family -- Chinook, coho salmon, lake trout, steelhead or brown trout, according to state data. That was up slightly from 8.6 fish per trip in 2005 and 7.9 fish per excursion in 2004, according to state data.

"If you're catching 8.9 fish per trip, that's an absolutely fantastic number of fish," Whitney said.

Despite the robust salmon harvest last year, biologists remain worried that the lake's dwindling food supply could hurt Chinook salmon, a pillar of the $4.5 billion Great Lakes sport and commercial fishery.

The four states surrounding Lake Michigan last year reduced the number of Chinook salmon stocked in the lake by 25 percent to keep the fish from further depleting the food supply.

Still, there are signs that the Lake Michigan salmon fishery is not yet out of the woods.

The total biomass, or volume, of six species of prey fish in Lake Michigan last year reached its lowest level since government agencies began collecting data in 1973, said Chuck Madenjian, a research fishery biologist at the U.S. Geologic Survey's Great Lakes Science Center in Ann Arbor.

The biomass of mature alewife in Lake Michigan last year also was the lowest in 22 years, Madenjian said. That figure is significant because alewives are the primary food for salmon.

Moreover, the biomass of zebra and quagga mussels on the bottom of Lake Michigan is now three times larger than the volume of the six species of prey fish combined, Madenjian said.

Government biologists who trolled for alewife and five other species of prey fish on the lake bottom last year estimated the total biomass of those fish at 66,000 tons. The estimated biomass of zebra and quagga mussels on the lake bottom last year was about 220,000 tons, Madenjian said.

Zebra and quagga mussels, which were imported to the Great Lakes in the ballast water of ocean freighters, have been linked to a steep decline in diporeia -- a shrimp-like creature that Lake Michigan fish rely on for food. Biologists at Saturday's workshop said the spread of the mussels across much of the lake bottom is not yet a crisis for the salmon fishery.

A more immediate threat to the Lake Michigan sport fishery is VHS, viral hemorrhagic septicemia, said Gary Whelan, fish production manager for the Michigan DNR.

VHS, which has been called the fish version of the Ebola virus, causes fish to bleed to death. The virus, which doesn't affect humans, has killed thousands of fish from 18 species in Lake Huron, Lake St. Clair, Lake Erie, Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River.

"I think we'll find VHS in Lake Michigan fish this year," Whelan said. "It may already be here."

Michigan officials believe VHS was carried into the Great Lakes in the ballast water of an ocean freighter. The virus has spread across most of the Great Lakes in the past three years.

Whelan said VHS will make life difficult for fishery managers and live bait dealers throughout the Great Lakes basin and could disrupt international commerce if other countries ban imports of Great Lakes fish.

[Hamilton Reef]

I was in the usual conflict of two meetings on same day so I ended up in Lansing talking with DNR on other fishery projects.
I attended the Ludington Workshop and trusted that some of you would fill in any detailed differences of the two Grand Haven and Ludington meetings.

[Hamilton Reef]

Salmon catch soared in 2006 but fish were smaller

http://www.mlive.com/outdoors/grpress/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/1173449720190330.xml&coll=6

03/09/07 By Howard Meyerson Press Outdoors Editor hmeyerson@grpress.com

Although anglers and fish biologists say the Lake Michigan salmon catch was terrific in 2006, they also will say the fish were smaller than in recent years.

That contention is supported by the recently released Department of Natural Resources Master Angler list, where only 18 chinook salmon made the cut. Thirteen of the big kings turned up on the program's catch-and-keep list. Those fish must weigh a minimum of 27 pounds.

Another five made the catch-and-release list where 41 inches is the minimum length.

Three coho salmon made the 12-pound catch-and-keep minimum. None made the catch-and-release list.

The tallies for chinnook and coho are a far cry from 2001 when 289 chinook qualified and 1999 when 699 coho were entered. State biologists say the drop reflects the change in the Lake Michigan forage base in recent years.

"Numberswise, the Lake Michigan fishery was phenomenal in 2006. It's the best I've seen," Tom Rozich, the DNR's Cadillac district fisheries supervisor, said. Rozich tracks how many big salmon, steelhead and brown trout turn up at Lake Michigan ports and tributaries.

"Weightwise, they were all three to five pounds heavier than in 2005.

"But the number of Master Angler fish we get depends on the amount of forage we have out there."

And those numbers have been down in recent years. according to Rozich.

The Master Angler program was started in 1973 to recognize anglers who catch the largest fish in what is now 52 species categories. Anglers who enter fish on the catch-and-keep list must provide a certified weight. Those entries are eligible to become a state record.

Catch-and-release anglers need only to submit a photo and the measured length. Anglers in both categories are expected also to report where and how they caught their fish.

In 2006, the heaviest chinook recorded weighed 32.75 pounds. It was taken in Lake Michigan while trolling. Only two of the 13 listed topped 30 pounds. The state record is 43.06 pounds set in 1978.

The top catch-and-release chinook on the 2006 list measured 43 1/2 inches and was hooked by a fly fisherman on the Pere Marquette River.

The largest coho, of three listed, also came from the Pere Marquette River. It weighed 21 pounds and measured 36.5 inches. The big fish was landed by Terrance Borgess of Ada while fishing a stonefly imitation.

"That spike in the '01 catch of chinooks relates to a 1998 year class of alewives," Rozich said. "When there is a lot for them to eat, they achieve that magical 27-pound mark. They jumped on those and we got big, fat, sassy adults."

The same goes for the coho count in 1999, Rozich said. They hit the alewives hard and grew and grew.

"The peaks always coincide with a good year class of alewives," he said.

Rozich anticipates that anglers will see bigger fish this year. Lake Michigan produced another good year class of alewives in 2005 and 2006.

"It's going to be the same thing with steelhead and browns," he said.

Brown trout have to be larger than 16 pounds to make the catch-and-keep list. Twenty-two beat the minimum in 2006. Only one turned up on the catch- and-release list where it had to go 33 inches or larger. That fish was hooked in the Alpena River by a drift-fishing angler using a TriNuke Egg.

The biggest of the keepers ran 28.22 pounds and measured 37.6 inches. It was caught on Lake Huron, where two of the top five were caught.

The biggest brown caught on Lake Michigan was the No. 5 fish overall, caught off Benzie County by an angler trolling a Laser Hoochie with a Richey Fly.

This is the second consecutive year where anglers set no state records. It is also the fifth consecutive year where the number of catch-and-release entries exceeded catch and release.

"We established the catch-and-release category in 1992," Barb Dilts, the Master Angler program manager, said. "By 2002 it had caught up to and exceeded the number in catch and keep."

A total of 1,300 anglers entered fish in 2005, down slightly from 1,397 in 2005. There are 796 entries on the 2006 catch-and-release list and 504 on the catch-and-keep list.