Anglers happy to see return of alewife

[Hamilton Reef]

Anglers happy to see return of once-scorned fish

Monday, June 05, 2006 By Jeff Alexander CHRONICLE STAFF WRITER

An exotic fish which symbolized all that was wrong with the Great Lakes fishery in the 1960s may be making a comeback and anglers are rejoicing.

What gives?

It is a strange irony that has Lake Michigan anglers celebrating the apparent resurgence of alewife, an exotic species of bait fish imported to the Great Lakes in the 1950s.

That's because salmon, which were imported to the Great Lakes in the 1960s to reduce an out-of-control alewife population, rely on the small, silver fish for their survival.

The past few years have not been kind to alewife.

Changes in the Great Lakes food chain, which researchers suspect have been caused by zebra mussels, have reduced the amount of food available for alewife.

The result: Fewer alewife in Lake Michigan and, ultimately, smaller salmon. The Lake Huron salmon fishery collapsed recently after alewife all but vanished from the lake.

Anglers who fear Lake Michigan's salmon fishery could duplicate what happened in Lake Huron said they are encouraged by the number of alewife they've seen in the bellies of salmon caught this spring. Scientists won't know until later this year, after conducting an annual survey of the lake, whether the alewife are mounting a serious comeback.

"We're getting a lot of fish with alewife in them -- that's good," said Brian Butts, who captains a charter boat in Grand Haven. His boat was one of 143 that participated in the 11th annual Grand Haven Offshore Challenge, a salmon fishing tournament, this past weekend.

Butts and other experienced anglers who fished in the tournament said they are concerned about the shrinking size of Lake Michigan salmon. But they noted that anglers are still catching a lot of salmon in the lake, albeit smaller ones than in past years.

"As long as the bait fish (alewife) hold up, we'll have salmon," said Willis Kerridge, a longtime charter boat captain and past president of the Grand Haven Charter Boat Association.

"I think the fishery is pretty healthy and business has been pretty good," said Kerridge, who has run a charter service for 28 years.

Charter boat anglers caught a near record number of chinook salmon in Lake Michigan last year, but the fish were much smaller than a decade ago. Catching a 20-pound chinook salmon was almost routine in the mid-1990s; these days, a 12-pound salmon is considered a big fish, Butts said.

The decline of diporeia, a tiny-shrimp like creature that lives near the bottom of the Great Lakes, has put alewife on a crash diet over the past decade. That diet has been passed up the food chain to salmon in Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.

There are fewer alewife in Lake Michigan, and the fish are smaller, than a decade ago, according to government data.

The shrinking salmon phenomenon prompted Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin to reduce the number of salmon stocked in Lake Michigan this year by 25 percent to keep the fish from eating all the alewife.

The success of that program could determine the fate of the lake's alewife population and, ultimately, the lucrative salmon fishery.

"Hopefully, the Lake Michigan fishery is not going to do what the fishery did in Lake Huron," Butts said. "Lake Michigan is a little more fertile (for fish) than Lake Huron, and our fishery is still productive."

But Lake Michigan's roller-coaster salmon fishery is not out of the woods.

Experts have said it could be several years before anyone knows whether reducing fish stocking in the lake allows more alewife to survive and, in turn, support larger salmon.

Wisconsin angler Mark Bachm fished in the Grand Haven tournament, predicted the Lake Michigan salmon fishery would rebound from the fish food shortage, just as it recovered from a bacterial kidney disease that decimated the fishery in the early 1990s.

"Not everyone is happy with the fishery but I think this (alewife shortage) is just a little glitch in the program; everything will come back," Bachman said.

In the meantime, another longtime salmon menace has reared its ugly head again, according to anglers who participated in the salmon fishing tournament.

Sea lamprey, an alien species imported to the Great Lakes in the early 1900s, has stepped up its assault on Lake Michigan salmon.

"We've seen a ton of lamprey wounds this year," said Karen Lagerberg, executive director of the Grand Haven Offshore Challenge.

Sea lamprey are eel-like fish that attach to salmon and lake trout, bore holes in their bodies and suck the fish's bodily fluids. Fish often die from the wounds or resulting infections.

The Lake Michigan sea lamprey population soared from 60,000 in 2000 to 165,000 in 2004 after the fish began nesting behind a leaky dam in the Manistique River, in the Upper Peninsula.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spent $1 million on a chemical treatment in 2004 to kill spawning sea lamprey in the Manistique River. Federal officials have said the chemical treatment reduced the lamprey population in the lake to about 85,000; biologists want that number reduced to 50,000 to protect salmon and lake trout.

[Erik]

Personally I would "rejoice" more if the smelt were to return

[fire-tiger]

Originally Posted by Erik

Personally I would "rejoice" more if the smelt were to return

A return to high populations of smelt would benefit the fishery much more than a return of non-native alwive.

[bombcast]

the smelt aren't native either...

[Getaway]

Originally Posted by bombcast

the smelt aren't native either...

Very true, but they taste better than alewives

[double trouble]

and smell better

[stelmon]

Originally Posted by Getaway

Very true, but they taste better than alewives

Geteway,
are you saying you have tried alewive?

[Getaway]

probably.

Have you had a fish sandwich from McD's lately? They do taste a little gamey.

[BallsRdragn]

Originally Posted by Getaway

probably.

Have you had a fish sandwich from McD's lately? They do taste a little gamey.

In reference to sec code #5467 in deaformation we at McDanolds rezent that we use Al'swife for our meat substance in our Fish Samichh. Please continue to eat our 100% process'd fish samich at your willing and if it smells a little like Al'swife..... throw some sauce on it.

[double trouble]

is dat tooth tarter sauce or is dat al's wifes hot sauce wit dat fish.
i likes kechup wit als wife

[live2fishdjs]

Originally Posted by Getaway

probably.

Have you had a fish sandwich from McD's lately? They do taste a little gamey.

I always thought they were carpburgers

[stinger63]

Originally Posted by Getaway

probably.

Have you had a fish sandwich from McD's lately? They do taste a little gamey.

McDonalds fish sandwitches are made from sheepshead

[sfw1960]

Originally Posted by Erik

Personally I would "rejoice" more if the smelt were to return

WHAT
Smelt???