Doctors Ed Roseman and Bruce Manny collect whitefish eggs on the Detroit River. - Photo by James Boase, December 8, 2005

Last winter, fisheries scientists from Alpena FRO and the USGS Great Lakes Science Center discovered spawning whitefish in the Detroit River for the first time since 1916. News of the discovery was first announced in the Toledo Blade on May 23^rd (www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060523/COLUMNIST22/605230319&SearchID=73250341699796). 

The work conducted last fall was part of the preliminary research for a larger study that is scheduled to to run from the fall of 2006 and until spring of 2008.  Funding for the research is provided, in part, by the Service’s Science Support Program (SSP). 

The goal of the project is to identify fish use of recently created and historical spawning habitats in the Detroit River.  During the spring, targeted species include lake sturgeon and walleye. Whitefish will be the species of interest in the fall and winter.

Whitefish are currently the most sought after commercial species in the Great Lakes and once were harvested in great numbers from Lake Erie.  The fishery collapsed for a number of reasons, but spawning habitat loss and pollution were identified as primary reasons for the decline. 

At the turn of the century the Detroit River supported large numbers of spawning whitefish because, at that time, the river was composed of many braided, shallow channels.  Those historical channels were composed primarily of limestone bedrock, rock and gravel, habitats that are needed for successful spawning by whitefish and many other species of native fish, including lake sturgeon and walleye. 

In 1972, the U.S. Clean Water Act and the U.S. - Canada Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement were signed. Since then the Detroit River has seen a steady decline in pollution-related problems. 

Ultimately the goal is to clean up the river and provide adequate habitat that will lead to the re-establishment of species like whitefish and lake sturgeon.