Friends of the Upper Mississippi

The growing season for most of our fish is over for the year, and they have all been either put in their winter homes in their overwintering ponds, or a few species are kept a watchful eye over the entire winter in several of our culture buildings. The staff has a very slight breather to begin maintenance on our streamside rearing units, nets and fish culture equipment, and then are hard at it again as our cold water species of fish eggs arrive at the hatchery in December and January. These join our lake trout eggs at the station in their perspective separate areas, an isolated to reduce the risk of cross species disease transmission. The lake trout have been on board since early October, arriving from New York and held in quarantine, being a relative unknown as far as fish health status is concerned. These eggs came from the wild and will remain here growing into 10-12 inch fish and experiencing 3 fish health exams before being safely moved to FWS captive broodstock stations. Here they will produce millions of eggs yearly to be stocked as fingerlings to restore lake trout in 4 of the 5 Great Lakes. Our brook trout eggs, received from Iron River (WI) National Fish Hatchery, will be grown to 9 inches and released in Lake Superior to help restore the “coaster” brook trout, which can grow much larger than the inland stream brook trout. Then follows the Rainbow trout, a great sport fish in its own right. Most of the Rainbows are stocked in Wisconsin’s Fort McCoy Army Base and tribal waters to increase sport fishing opportunities. We also save some back for our Youth Fishing and Veterans and Differently-Abled Fishing events. So much for a winter break. The fish keep coming, and we are thankful for the opportunity to contribute to the FWS mission of Conserving the Nations Aquatic Resources for the Continuing Benefit of the American Public.
By: Doug Aloisi

Rainbow Trout, Brook Trout and Lake Trout eggs in a jar and container. Photo credit: USFWS

Genoa National Fish Hatchery was presented with the opportunity to culture lake sturgeon for restoration efforts into the Maumee River (Toledo, Ohio). As part of a multi-agency effort amongst the Toledo Zoo, USFWS, USGS, Ohio DNR, Michigan DNR, University of Toledo and Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry lake sturgeon have been reintroduced to the Maumee River since 2018, a tributary of Lake Erie. Historically populations of lake sturgeon were abundant in the river; however they are no longer present. Research has shown that the Maumee River is a strong candidate for lake sturgeon reintroduction, providing suitable habitat for spawning adults and offspring. Southern Lake Huron (Upper St. Clair River) population was used as donor stock for this study. Recently lake sturgeon have been cultured in stream side rearing facilities in multiple locations along rivers that are Great Lakes tributaries to allow for sturgeon to imprint on natal water, with the hope of increasing site fidelity as a returning spawning adult. A sturgeon trailer was deployed near the Toledo Zoo in 2018 to raise 1500 lake sturgeon on Maumee River water and the Genoa National Fish Hatchery will raise 1500 lake sturgeon on hatchery water supply. To date 6,397 lake sturgeon have been stocked from Genoa into the Maumee River. Once fish are 7 inches at both locations, they are tagged with a PIT (passive integrated transponder) tag to monitor future growth and survival. This project calls for paired releases of sturgeon from both locations for 25 years to reach a target self-sustaining population. Adult returns to the river from the stocked population will be monitored to see if sturgeon cultured in a streamside rearing facility exhibit higher stocking site fidelity rates vs. fish cultured at offsite locations (Genoa National Fish Hatchery). In addition, researchers will assess post stocking survival rates between sturgeon cultured in a streamside facility and sturgeon reared in a traditional hatchery. Also, the streamside facility located on the Maumee River (Toledo Zoo) property serves as an exceptional place to engage the public in lake sturgeon restoration. The Toledo zoo incorporates lake sturgeon restoration and the streamside trailer into one of the exhibits open to the public.

By: Orey Eckes

Lake Sturgeon being measured in a tray and an open hand with pit tags next to a pencil. Photo Credit: Alpena Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office.

Two USFWS worker extracting eggs out of a fish. Photo: USFWS

Lots of great conservation stories coming out of New York and Wisconsin this year. Ongoing conservation efforts with the New York Department of Conservation and the New York Field Office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have kept the Genoa staff busy this October. A substantial portion of Genoa’s crew and even a member of the Midwest Fisheries Center in La Crosse WI spent time in October travelling back and forth from Wisconsin to New York to further fisheries restorations in New York and the Midwest. Concurrent egg takes of lake trout eggs in Cayuga Lake, and lake sturgeon restoration efforts in multiple waterways in New York occurred the first two weeks of October of this year.
Jeff Lockington of the Genoa staff was the lead in collecting Cayuga Lake strain lake trout eggs with New York DEC staff yielding eggs of over 100 pair of females. The eggs were shipped or driven back to Genoa to be folded into our quarantine building activities. The lake trout from Cayuga Lake are descendants of Seneca Lake, another lake in the Finger Lakes Region of New York. Fish descended from this strain have been more resistant to post stocking sea lamprey predation in the Great Lakes and many spring yearling lake trout are produced annually for stocking each year throughout the Great Lakes system. Eggs brought to Genoa will be quarantined and inspected for any fish health issues for 18 months and 3 formal fish health inspections at the USFWS La Crosse Fish Health Center before release to captive broodstock stations in Michigan and Massachusetts. One year class of this strain is already residing in Genoa’s quarantine building and will be crossed with this new year class when becoming mature in order to increase the genetic contribution of their progeny. It is hoped that this will increase their fitness and survival post stocking to adapt and thrive outside of captivity in the Great Lakes. Also in this month, 2 stocking trips brought over 13,700 lake sturgeon fall fingerlings averaging over 6.25 inches back to the state of New York for ongoing restoration programs. The fish started as eggs taken from the St. Lawrence River in New York in June of this year, which were brought back to Genoa for growout. After a hard summer of growth, they were returned and stocked in state waters. Results from fall New York DEC surveys of last year showed that survey parameters were met in 4 of the states 6 management areas that indicate those areas are being restored. According to state restoration plans, if one more management area can meet these standards the species will meet de-listing criteria on the state’s Threatened and Endangered Species list. Great news for the many sturgeon enthusiasts, both professional and citizen scientists that participate in bringing back this unique species. By: Doug Aloisi

Jeff Lockington releasing lake sturgeon into a river. Photo: USFWS

As it gets close to the end of the growing season at Genoa, we begin to be tempted to look back and
evaluate the year, and review our overall conservation goals worked on. This usually involves not
just the calendar year, but some of our long term conservation actions that we work on with our
partners. Some exciting news over the course of this year included the documented spawning of lake
sturgeon in 3 of the populations that we have been stocking. Conservation departments from
Missouri, Georgia and Minnesota documented lake sturgeon spawning in populations that were either
extirpated before stocking, or in numbers reduced enough to determine that they were close to being
functionally extinct. River systems such as the Red River in Minnesota have not seen lake sturgeon
in those waters since the early 1900’s, and this year large pods of large sturgeon were seen in the act
of spawning. This was a direct result of hatchery stockings that began which Genoa has taken part in
since 2001. We hope to hear more good news soon in Tennessee and New York where lake
sturgeon stockings have resulted in expanding lake sturgeon populations in stocked watersheds and
sturgeon should be approaching spawning age.

About 19 freshwater mussels in sand with small rocks next to them under water. Photo: Megan Bradley/USFWS.

This year our mussel biologists have been hard at work on their Recovery programs as well and with
the help of many of our state, federal, and non-government Friends 2 new placements of federally
Endangered Higgins Eye Pearly mussels occurred in a system that is relatively free of the invasive
zebra mussel. The mussels were seen displaying their lures this summer, indicating that they had
fertilized larvae waiting to be attached to their fish host to complete their reproductive cycle. Many
thanks to all our federal, state and public and private participants in this process, including our citizen
scientists that volunteer and support our mission through volunteering to tag, harvest, feed, and lead
our Friends support group. We truly couldn’t walk this walk without you!
By: Doug Aloisi

Red River basin Lake Sturgeon adults spawning. Photo: USFWS

Big Stone Lake, located on the South Dakota – Minnesota border was once home to abundant
numbers of lake sturgeon. Many factors including over harvest and poor water quality led to an
extirpated population of lake sturgeon by year 1946. Currently South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks
and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources are partnering to restore historic populations.
With the aid of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the Genoa National Fish Hatchery
collected eggs from adult sturgeon in the Wisconsin River. Eggs were transported back to Genoa.
After a summer of intensive culture juvenile sturgeon are lengths of 6-8 inches. Prior to release all
sturgeon are coded wire tagged to track population trends in the future. The restoration plan calls for
the stocking of 4,000 fish per year for up to 20 years reared at the Genoa National Fish Hatchery.
The goal of these cooperative partnerships is to enable a long awaited return of lake sturgeon to Big
Stone Lake in support of restoring a fish for future generations to enjoy. By: Orey Eckes

Truck with trailer loading water and fish in tanks. Photo: Erica Rasmussen/USFWS.