On February 11, 2008 Alpena NFWCO biologist Jim McFee attended the annual Ohio Fish Producers Association meeting. The meeting was held in Oregon, Ohio on the shores of Maumee Bay on Lake Erie.  The annual meeting is set aside to discuss various topic concerning the commercial fishing industry and elect officers for the coming year.  McFee attended the meeting to present information regarding a potential lake sturgeon tagging project on Lake Erie.

McFee presented the objective of the project and the work that would be required from interested commercial fishers.  The project would involve commercial fishers collecting biological data from captured lake sturgeon such as length (total, fork, and commercial), girth, weight and sex (if applicable).  In addition to biological data, commercial fishers would be responsible for removing a fin ray for aging and genetic data as well as tagging the fish with both an internal PIT (passive integrated transponder) and external FLOY tag.  All information would be recorded on and the fin ray stored in an envelope supplied by the Alpena NFWCO.  In addition to the envelopes the Alpena NFWCO would supply all equipment needed for this project, including PIT tags, PIT tag reader, syringes, FLOY tags, tagging needles, and a saw for fin removal.

Several commercial fishers showed interest in this project, including a fisher from Michigan and representatives from the Ontario Commercial Fishers.  This project is an excellent opportunity to involve user of the resource to collect additional lake sturgeon data and extend the genetic library of open water stocks.   At the present time this project is pending approval of funding.