On Thursday 4/12/18, the Little River Band of Odawa Indians Natural Resources Department staff, led by Corey Jerome – Sturgeon Biologist, have recaptured a Lake Sturgeon from Manistee Lake that was raised and released in 2008 from our sturgeon Streamside Rearing Facility at Rainbow Bend on the Manistee River.  This is the first released sturgeon that has been documented returning into the Manistee River system from our rearing facility and is thought to be on its way up the Manistee River to spawn this spring.  Corey Jerome was able to confirm the identity of this sturgeon by using the unique identification number scanned from the PIT-Tag in the fish, this tag was implanted into this sturgeon before its release in 2008.  The sturgeon was released on September 20, 2008 and was 7.3 in., 0.05 lbs. and is now 10 years old and 45.27 in., 28 lbs. To our knowledge this is the first documented lake sturgeon from a Streamside Rearing Facility to return to its natal stream within the Great Lakes.  Corey Jerome began in the spring of 2017, and has continued in 2018 to look for adult lake sturgeon returning to the Manistee River from our Streamside Rearing Facility.  It is our plan to continue these efforts to look for returning sturgeon in the Manistee River that have been released from our Streamside Rearing Facility to evaluate the success of our efforts.  (Pictures Attached; Corey Jerome holding the returning sturgeon; Corey Jerome and Josh Beaulaurier taking ultrasound images to determine the sex of the sturgeon.)

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