Chinook Salmon Research Paper
Was it right that the Michigan Department of Natural Resources cut Chinook Salmon stockings by almost 70% in Lake Michigan?
Yes it was the right that the DNR reduced Chinook Salmon stockings.
In the 1960s, a species of baitfish called alewife invaded the Great Lakes and started to die off by the millions due to overpopulation. In 1967, the DNR began planting Chinook Salmon, a prolific open water predator, to control the alewife population. In the process, the DNR created one of the best sport fisheries in the world. A fishery capable of bringing billions of dollars a year to the Michigan economy. In recent years the alewife population declined with the last three years being the lowest on record. The DNR had to act fast in order to avoid having the fishery crash, like if did in Lake Huron. The DNR reduced the Chinook Salmon stockings. Reasons the DNR did the right thing is; the alewives will hopefully rebound, Chinook Salmon are not as useful to the lake as other species, and there will be more food for other game fish. Chinook Salmon, or King Salmon, originate from the Pacific Ocean where they spend their lives …show more content…
The diet of the Chinook Salmon is not varied so they put a lot of pressure on the Alewife population. Other species such as Brown Trout distribute the pressure among the baitfish species and even smaller game fish. A report put out by Paul Smith in the article titled Status quo for chinook stocking, cuts for trout he explains that the other trout and salmon species leave less of an impact on the forage base. It takes 2.2 Brown Trout, 2.3 Lake Trout, 2.4 Steelhead, or 3.2 Coho Salmon of the same size to equal the effect of one Chinook Salmon on the forage base. Again, the Chinook Salmon do very little in cleaning up the population of the invasive Round Gobies and even the Eurasian Ruffle compared to the other game fish. Chinook Salmon just are not very useful to the
Yes it was the right that the DNR reduced Chinook Salmon stockings.
In the 1960s, a species of baitfish called alewife invaded the Great Lakes and started to die off by the millions due to overpopulation. In 1967, the DNR began planting Chinook Salmon, a prolific open water predator, to control the alewife population. In the process, the DNR created one of the best sport fisheries in the world. A fishery capable of bringing billions of dollars a year to the Michigan economy. In recent years the alewife population declined with the last three years being the lowest on record. The DNR had to act fast in order to avoid having the fishery crash, like if did in Lake Huron. The DNR reduced the Chinook Salmon stockings. Reasons the DNR did the right thing is; the alewives will hopefully rebound, Chinook Salmon are not as useful to the lake as other species, and there will be more food for other game fish. Chinook Salmon, or King Salmon, originate from the Pacific Ocean where they spend their lives …show more content…
The diet of the Chinook Salmon is not varied so they put a lot of pressure on the Alewife population. Other species such as Brown Trout distribute the pressure among the baitfish species and even smaller game fish. A report put out by Paul Smith in the article titled Status quo for chinook stocking, cuts for trout he explains that the other trout and salmon species leave less of an impact on the forage base. It takes 2.2 Brown Trout, 2.3 Lake Trout, 2.4 Steelhead, or 3.2 Coho Salmon of the same size to equal the effect of one Chinook Salmon on the forage base. Again, the Chinook Salmon do very little in cleaning up the population of the invasive Round Gobies and even the Eurasian Ruffle compared to the other game fish. Chinook Salmon just are not very useful to the