Great Lakes Fishery Commission

Updated 2023-12-13 16:34:54

Lake Michigan -> 4.0 Benthivore (Bottom Feeding Fish) -> Lake Sturgeon Rehabilitation

4.1.2 Lake sturgeon rehabilitation update

Lake sturgeon have been a species of interest for state, tribal, and federal resource agencies for decades. Rehabilitation efforts began in earnest in the early 2000s with the first streamside facility for rearing lake sturgeon installed on the Manistee River. Since 2006, the number of streamside facilities has expanded to include the Milwaukee and Kewaunee rivers in Wisconsin, the Cedar and Whitefish rivers in Upper Michigan and the Kalamazoo River in Michigan. Together these streamside facilities have stocked over 20,000 lake sturgeon to boost population numbers in Lake Michigan and begin the slow and steady progress toward rehabilitation of this species in designated tributary streams, and ultimately Lake Michigan. Since lake sturgeon do not spawn for 15 to 20 years, we are now just beginning to see some of these fish return to stocked river systems.

Figure 1 shows the number of lake sturgeon that have been stocked by streamside rearing facilities from 2005 to 2021. Stocking numbers peaked in 2010 and again in 2016 to over 5,000 fish, and the average number stocked per year was nearly 3,000 fish. Since eggs from these fish are obtained from wild-caught adults or egg mats, annual production is highly variable and highlights the challenges to consistently stock lake sturgeon for population rehabilitation. Even with these challenges, agencies have detected lake sturgeon on an increasing trend over the last 20 years (Figure 2). Information from a variety of sources, including angler reports, commercial trap nets, dip net surveys, incidental encounters and targeted sturgeon sampling efforts, have shown that stocking from streamside rearing facilities is moving the needle towards rehabilitation of this important native Lake Michigan fish species.

Figure 1. Lake sturgeon stocked in Lake Michigan from streamside rearing facilities.

Figure 2. Recorded lake sturgeon encounters from throughout Lake Michigan during 2002-2021. Data were compiled from angler reports, commercial trap nets, dipnet surveys, incidental surveys and targeted lake sturgeon sampling efforts, including the Menominee Fish Lift in Wisconsin.