As spring draws closer, you may find fish stocking trucks releasing their prized cargo at hundreds of lakes and streams throughout the state.
Michigan's Department of Natural Resources said its program is stocking 20 million fish — 350 tons — including six trout species, three salmon species, lake sturgeon, muskellunge and walleye.
From mid-March to early June, DNR's 18 fish-stocking vehicles are set to travel more than 100,000 miles to more than 1,000 spots around the state, according to a press release issued last week by the DNR.
"There are multiple reasons why we stock fish," Ed Eisch, fish production manager for the DNR, said in a statement. "They may be stocked to restore ecosystem balance, to provide diverse fishing opportunities or to rehabilitate depressed fish populations and to reintroduce extirpated species."
The DNR does not stock on top of wild populations when it can be avoided. For example, the DNR has no investments in the rearing of warm water fish like bass and panfish. These species are prolific breeders and even small numbers of wild reproducing fish can sustain viable populations, according to the agency.
But, hatchery fish are stocked to supplement natural reproduction when angling pressures and habitat limitations keep wild fish from maintaining the "desired population level on their own," the DNR stated in the release.
DNR Fisheries personnel plant 3,000 steelhead yearling fish in the Red Cedar River on MSU's campus.
David Kenyon/MI Dept. of Natural ResourcesThe number and type of fish stocked vary by hatchery. In Michigan, there are six state hatcheries and three cooperative hatcheries that work together to produce the species, strain and size of fish needed by fisheries managers.
The fish must then be delivered at a specific time and location for stocking to ensure their success. In general, fish are reared in Michigan’s state fish hatcheries anywhere from one month to one and a half years before they are stocked.
"There are many factors that go into determining where and why fish are stocked in a particular lake or stream – in fact, it’s one of the most frequently asked questions the department receives," the DNR stated in the release. "Some of these factors include current habitat, available forage and predators and/or competitors in the waterbody."
To find out if any fish were stocked in your favorite spot, visit the DNR’s fish stocking database at MichiganDNR.com/FishStock/.
The fishing industry in Michigan generates nearly 38,000 jobs and produces roughly $2.5 billion annually for the state’s economy, according to a 2016 report created by officials with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
Surveys on Michigan's 10,000 lakes and 36,000 miles of streams are also underway in parts of the state, all part of the state's annual effort to collect data to determine where fish stocking is needed.
DNR teams completed more than 260 fisheries surveys across Michigan in 2021, according to an April 12 press release by the DNR.
The surveys revealed that most of Michigan's lakes and streams have healthy, self-sustaining populations of fish, according to the release.
The surveys, which are happening in southern Michigan and start in May in the Upper Peninsula, are useful for tracking inland fisheries populations, evaluating if stocking increases angler opportunities or addressing concerns from anglers throughout the year, according to Jay Wesley, DNR fisheries division Lake Michigan basin coordinator, in the release.
"The management units stepped up last year and safely conducted these surveys to evaluate if management actions, like fish stocking or habitat improvement projects, had the desired effect," Wesley said in the release. "Surveys help us understand whether or not our management actions resulted in better recreational fishing in certain areas or improved a lake’s overall health."
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Spring brings fish stocking, inland fisheries surveys - Midland Daily News
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