Biological Services Department

GREAT LAKES FISHERIES PROGRAM

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The Bay Mills Fisheries program has an overall mission to ensure the responsible management and protection of Great Lakes fish and the commercial fishery in the 1836 treaty-ceded waters of the upper Great Lakes. In August 2000, Bay Mills entered into the Great Lakes Fishing Decree with four other Michigan tribes, the State of Michigan, and the United States of America to cooperatively manage the fisheries resources of the Great Lakes waters of the 1836 treaty. As a result, the Technical Fisheries Committee was created to oversee monitoring, develop population estimates, and make management recommendations. A modeling subcommittee was also created to assist with development of these estimates. Bay Mills staff are actively involved in all of these management efforts.
 
Bay Mills fisheries staff also monitor commercial and subsistence fishing by its members. We collect and track mandatory catch reports for both activities. Staff sample catches of commercial and subsistence fishers regularly at landings or onboard fishing boats.
 
• Larval Otoonapii (Lake Herring) sampling in Lake Huron
     Goal: To compare morphology of wild and hatchery raised age-0 fish
• Whitefish Bay zooplankton survey
    Goal: To better understand the relationship between zooplankton and Age-0 Atikameg in a location with an intact ecosystem (which can be contrasted with Lakes Huron and Michigan)
• Ogaa spawning in the Waishkey River
     Goal: Determine if Ogaa are using the Waishkey River to spawn
• Spring Nmegos survey (once every three years)
     Goal: Monitor the Nmegos population in Whitefish Bay.
• Waishkey Bay Giigoonh (fish) Survey
     Goal: Monitor the giigoonh populations in Waishkey Bay
• Giigoonh Community Survey

     Goal: Create a robust index of abundance for all fish species in Whitefish Bay and surrounding waters
• Whitefish Bay Atikameg Acoustic Telemetry
     Goal: Better understand Atikameg movement in Whitefish Bay and the surrounding waters
• River Spawning Atikameg
     Goal: Identify and restore spawning runs of Atikameg in Lakes Huron, Michigan and Superior
• Atikameg and Thiaminase
     Goal: Determine if thiaminase is a challenge for spawning Atikameg as it is for Nmegos
• Otoonapii Spawning Survey
     Goal: Better understand the likely catch and bycatch of an Otoonapii fishery during the closure
 

 
Bay Mills fisheries staff have also been actively involved in cormorant assessment control since 2003. Double-crested cormorant populations have been increasing in the Great Lakes basin over the last three decades. Cormorants compete with humans for fish resources and outcompete other indigenous birds for nesting habitats. They seriously debilitate plant communities where they nest.
 

Control programs seek to reduce effects of cormorant populations through harassment and culling of adults and oiling of eggs.   For more information about this program, contact Bay Mills Biological Services.