Tag: sport fishermen

Yellow Perch Making Resurgence?

A popular fish might be making a comeback in the upper Great Lakes. Yellow perch were once a favorite catch for sport and commercial fishermen, but their populations crashed in the 1990’s. Biologists say new surveys in Lakes Huron and Michigan have found huge numbers of young perch. The GLRC’s Peter Payette reports:

Transcript

A popular fish might be making a comeback in the upper Great Lakes.
Yellow Perch were once a favorite catch for sport and commercial
fishermen, but their populations crashed in the 1990’s. Biologists say
new surveys in Lakes Huron and Michigan have found huge numbers of
young perch. The GLRC’s Peter Payette reports:


A survey of Lake Michigan found more perch were born last year than in
the best years on record. Two or three times as many.


Recent studies of perch in Lake Huron’s Saginaw Bay have shown
similar results. It’s not clear why fish numbers would suddenly
skyrocket. Weather is believed to be one factor.


Dave Fielder is a biologist with the Michigan DNR. He says perch in
Lake Huron have also benefited from the decline of alewives, which are
an invasive species.


“We’ve known for a long time that alewives are formidable predators and
competitors on newly hatched yellow perch fry.”


Fielder says most of the newborn perch are not surviving so the adult
population in Saginaw Bay has not grown. He says it may be too many
perch have been born and there’s not enough food for them all.


For the GLRC, I’m Peter Payette.

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Threat Increasing From Invasive Fish

A spiny fish that can hunt in the dark has invaded Lake Michigan. The foreign fish is known as the Eurasian ruffe. As the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Annie MacDowell reports, biologists fear the ruffe could harm the lake’s yellow perch population:

Transcript

A spiny fish that can hunt in the dark has invaded Lake Michigan. The foreign fish is known as the Eurasian ruffe. And as the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Annie MacDowell reports, biologists fear the ruffe could harm the lake’s yellow perch population:


Experts say the ruffe is originally from the Black and Caspian seas, and it’s an
efficient little machine. It lays enormous numbers of eggs and has no predators because of its spiny skin. Gary Lamberti is a professor in the department of biological sciences at the University of Notre Dame.


He says the ruffe are depleting the yellow perch’s food supply.


“The Eurasian ruffe are specialists on that food, that is they eat that food all the
time. And those are the worms and aquatic insects that are found at the bottom of
the lake. That’s what ruffe eat and that’s also what perch eat at a certain stage of
their lives. But ruffe do it all the time and they do it better.”


Lamberti says the yellow perch’s population is already declining in the Great Lakes,
probably due to competition from many invasive species.


The ruffe could be another blow to the commercial fishing industry, as yellow perch
are widely harvested for food and are a favorite among sportsmen.


The Eurasian ruffe probably migrated from Lake Superior, where they were first
discovered in the 80’s.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Annie MacDowell.

Reward for Tagged Fish

Great Lakes scientists are using new technology to track certain kinds of fish. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Jonathan Ahl reports:

Transcript

Great Lakes scientists are using new technology to track certain kinds of fish. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Jonathan Ahl reports:


Researchers on lakes Huron and Superior are using a new computerized tagging system to track fish including trout and sturgeon. The new tag measures the water depth and temperature of the areas fish prefer to be. Henry Quinlin is a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Ashland, Wisconsin:


“Upon learning the habitat preferences, habitat could be enhanced or created to benefit lake sturgeon or the other species that are being studied.”


Quinlin hopes the data can be used to design better habitat protection and restoration projects. He also says the program’s success is dependent on sport fisherman returning the tagged fish. That’s why his office is paying one hundred dollars a piece for fish with the special tags. For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Jonathan Ahl.