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Great Lakes Fish Restoration

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is an active participant in the restoration of native fish species in the Great Lakes, and has been involved in lake trout restoration since the 1950's. Fishery populations in the Great Lakes were declining from overharvest, pollution and habitat destruction.

The sea lamprey, an exotic species that entered the upper lakes through the Welland Canal System, also decimated an already threatened lake trout fishery. The sea lamprey is parasitic, meaning it feeds off of a fish host for a portion of its life cycle. The adult lamprey attaches to the fish by a rasping sucker mouth, and feeds off the fish's flesh and body fluids. One adult lamprey can destroy up to 40 pounds of fish during its lifespan. The Fish and Wildlife Service is carrying out a control program that reduces lamprey numbers in the upper Great Lakes so that fisheries restoration stocking can be successful.

Genoa NFH assists in this restoration effort of native species in the Great Lakes by serving as an isolated holding area for wild lake trout and coaster brook trout eggs and fry. In the fall spawning season, eggs from wild lake trout and coaster brook trout are collected from Lake Superior and brought to an isolation building located at Genoa. It is called an isolation building because it is quarantined from the rest of the station, with its own water supply. Here the eggs hatch, the fry develop for roughly 18 months, and they are sampled for fish diseases. If they are found to have no infectious diseases, they are shipped to National Fish Hatcheries in Michigan and Wisconsin for use in captive broodstock programs.

Over time, it was found that by infusing captive broodstock with wild eggs and fry, domestication of captive brood fish is slowed and restoration is more successful. But captive broodfish must be guarded against fish diseases that may occur naturally in the wild, in order to prevent diseases from being inadvertently spread through fish and eggs to other areas. This is why Genoa is being used to safeguard not only hatchery fish, but also wild fish populations.

Genoa currently houses one strain of lake trout from Traverse Island and one strain of coaster brook trout that originated on Isle Royale National Park in Michigan.

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U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service