In situ evaluation of spawning lake whitefish eDNA detection in Lake Michigan’s Green Bay

Grant: # 1987

Grant Amount: $28,613.00

Board Decision Year: 2022

University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point - College of Natural Resources (Stevens Point)

College of Natural Resources

Homola, Jared ([email protected]) 517-214-7039

2022 Ecosystem Health and Sustainable Fish Populations: Ecological and Biological Research to Inform Management - Ecological and biological fisheries research to inform management

Project Summary

Lake whitefish assessments and critical habitat protection are inhibited by an inability to locate open water spawning locations. We propose a pilot project that would assess the potential for using environmental DNA to identify lake whitefish spawning sites in southern Green Bay. Information gained would be operationalized in a subsequent project to parameterize a hydrologic model to identify eDNA points of origin and locate lake whitefish spawning aggregates in open waters of Green Bay.