Turtle Talk

From Soo Today:

Friday, December 21, 2007NEWS RELEASE

SAULT STE. MARIE
TRIBE OF
CHIPPEWA INDIANS

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Tribal walleye stocking program going strong into 10th year

21 percent of walleye sampled were stocked fish; no sign of VHS in stocks

SAULT STE. MARIE, MI – Tom Gorenflo, Inter-Tribal Fisheries and Assessment Program (ITFAP) director, reported walleye fishing in the St. Marys river received another boost in 2007 as the ITFAP raised and stocked 337,000 two-inch walleye summer fingerlings at various locations in the river.

The program contributes significantly to the walleye population with reports
indicating 21 percent of walleye sampled by ITFAP in 2006 were stocked fish, and that percentage is expected to rise.

Summer fingerling walleye were stocked at Potogannissing Bay, Raber Bay, Charlotte River, Lake George and Aune Osborn Park.

ITFAP also assisted in the rearing and stocking of an additional 7,000 six to eight-inch fall fingerling walleye, which were stocked in the river near Raber Bay and in Caribou Lake, an inland lake located near DeTour, Michigan.

In addition to the summer fingerlings, fall fingerling walleye were raised and stocked in a cooperative venture between ITFAP and local landowners, Nathaniel Armstrong and Andrea McDonald, who own and operate several walleye rearing ponds in the Barbeau area.

Three local sport-fishing clubs including the Raber Area Sportsmen’s Club, St. Mary’s River Sportsmen’s Club and the Caribou Lake Association purchased some of these fall fingerlings for stocking in the river and in Caribou Lake.

The tribes and landowners also donated approximately 3,800 fall fingerlings to these clubs to help bolster their stocking efforts.

Since 1998, ITFAP has stocked the St. Mary’s river every year except 1999.

Most of the fingerlings stocked by the tribes since 2001 have been marked using oxytetracycline (OTC), a common fish marking technique.

The primary purpose for marking the fingerlings is to help biologists distinguish stocked walleye from naturally reproduced walleye in the river.

This helps biologists evaluate many aspects of the stocking program, including whether stocking is benefiting the sport fishery in the river.

During fall 2006, tribal biologists collected 62 walleye samples from a local charter boat operator in the river, and determined (from OTC marks) that 21 percent were stocked fish.

These preliminary results suggest that the stocking program already contributes a sizeable number of walleye to the sport fishery, at least in the limited number of areas sampled so far.

The percentage of OTC marked (stocked) walleye is expected to increase in the future.

In January 2007, the ITFAP requested the assistance of several sport-fishing clubs in collecting walleye heads for OTC analysis. Since that time, ITFAP has received over 300 walleye samples from local sport fishermen.

These samples will be analyzed for OTC marks during the winter months, which will provide a much better picture of the contributions of stocked fish to the sport fishery.

ITFAP will again seek assistance from local sport-fishers in 2008, as evaluating the stocking program will require collecting samples for several years.

Understanding where stocked walleye are harvested will also be valuable for determining the most appropriate stocking sites, and the best number to stock per site.

In addition to the St. Mary’s river stocking, ITFAP continued the stocking of 100,000 walleye summer fingerlings at Bay Mills in Brimley Bay and 140,000 in Lake Michigan’s Grand Traverse Bay.

Beginning in 2008, ITFAP plans to re-institute walleye stocking in Lake Huron’s St. Martin Bay, near the Carp and Pine rivers.

Like all Great Lakes fishery agencies, ITFAP is concerned with the newly discovered fish virus, VHS.

Since walleye are susceptible to VHS, ITFAP sent samples of either adult walleye or pre-stocked fingerlings to accredited laboratories for testing prior to stocking.

Thus far, all 219 samples have tested negative for VHS.

The Inter-Tribal Fisheries and Assessment Program’s hatchery is administered by the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, and receives funding support from the Bay Mills Indian Community and the Grand Traverse Band of Chippewa and Ottawa Indians.