USFWS biologists, Glenn Miller and Gary Czypinski, assist Northern Michigan University researchers set up tag detection station

USFWS biologist, Henry Quinlan, assists Canadian biologist, Lisa O'Connor, set up a PIT tag antenna in Whittlesey Creek, WI.

A PIT tagged and released brook trout in Washington Creek, Isle Royale, MI.

Tracking the movement of brook trout in and out of Lake Superior tributaries is key to understanding the ecology of coaster brook trout and efforts to rehabilitate this depleted form of brook trout.  Important questions abound with respect to coaster rehabilitation.  Questions like, what time of year, what size or age, and what are the environmental conditions (water temperature, water level) when coasters or juvenile brook trout leave or enter streams, are coasters spawning in a particular stream, and what is the rate of survival of stocked brook trout and are they leaving the stream to access the lake environment?  

To gain a better understanding of these and other questions the USFWS Ashland Fishery Resources Office recently embarked on the use of half-duplex passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags and remote tag detection stations to track fish.  The use of remote tag detection stations allows the Service to collect data on the direction of individual fish movement 24 hrs a day without having to be physically present.  Data is collected when a tagged fish passes by the instream antennae and is stored in the data logger for download at a later date.  Biologists periodically return to the site to upload data and return to the office to check on movement of fish at the site.

The Ashland office benefitted greatly from our partners in this effort.  Our education began by helping Northern Michigan University researchers install a PIT tag station in the Hurricane River at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Michigan.  Lisa O'Connor of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada traveled to Ashland and assisted with the setup of a station in Whittlesey Creek, Wisconsin.  Ms. O'Connor has set up stations throughout the Great Lakes to examine effectiveness of fish passage devices at sea lamprey barriers.  Trout Unlimited chapters have assisted with the acquisition of equipment and Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources biologist Marilee Chase, who has established numerous stations to track coaster movement in the Nipigon River region, provided key technical assistance.

Thus far the Service has set up or assisted with the establishment of five PIT tag detection stations.  One of the goals of this effort is to develop regional networks of stations that allow biologists to learn where fish go when they leave a particular stream system.