Inferring tributary-specific production of adult, wild steelhead to the Lake Michigan fishery using otolith chemistry

Grant: # 1726

Grant Amount: $152,737.39

Board Decision Year: 2017

Central Michigan University - Department of Biology and Institute for Great Lakes Research (Mt. Pleasant)

Department of Biology and Institute for Great Lakes Research

Pangle, Kevin ([email protected]) 989-774-3185

2017 Ecosystem Health and Sustainable Fish Populations: Ecological and Biological Research to Inform Management - Ecological and biological fisheries research to inform management

Project Summary

We will evaluate the source-specific production of steelhead to the Lake Michigan fishery. We have demonstrated that chemical signatures of juvenile steelhead otoliths are sufficiently differentiable among different Lake Michigan tributaries and hatcheries to support accurate natal origin assignment. Here, otoliths of adult steelhead will be collected and analyzed to quantitatively assess the mixing of stocks in the Lake Michigan fishery and identify specific sources most supportive of steelhead production.