With no time to spare, Michigan hatches a Great Lakes whitefish rescue plan

Joel Petersen carries a net of whitefish aboard a boat near Leland, Mich., 2025. (Josh Boland/Bridge Michigan via AP)

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With time running out to save the Great Lakes’ whitefish from a deadly mussel invasion, Michigan officials have a moonshot plan to pluck fish from Lake Michigan and breed them in captivity.

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With sustained money, effort and luck, the fish’s offspring could one day help repopulate the lake after humans quell the mussels that have pushed the lake’s wild whitefish to near-collapse.

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“It’s really about saving those genetic stocks right now,” said Doug Craven, natural resources director for the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians. “If we don’t do it this year, there may not be enough wild fish in those stocks” to do it in the future.

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Armed with $350,000 from the recently passed state budget and nearly $900,000 from the Great Lakes Fishery Trust, state and tribal scientists will fan out from Naubinway to Saugatuck this fall to collect the spawning fish.

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For now, the mission is limited in scale, targeting the bloodlines most in danger of disappearing. But those involved in the “genetic rescue” mission told Bridge Michigan they hope it sets the stage for a major…

Original source: https://apnews.com/business

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