Friends of the Upper Mississippi

Clouds reflect off a hatchery pond. Photo by Raena Parsons/USFWS

Pond production season is in full swing at Genoa NFH. As a new employee at the hatchery, I’m making my first journey through the annual cycle. I was promised it would be busy and hectic at times, and I haven’t been disappointed. We kicked off the season dividing bloodstock out from their overwintering ponds. The Yellow Perch are the first to take action. We barely got them into their pond in time from the overwintering pond, with eggs and milt running from the fish as they were going into the pond. These will be ready to be harvested in mid-June and sent to their new homes in several state and federal waters. Walleye were next. Once fry were hatched from the egg battery, four production ponds were stocked with around 100,000 fry each towards the end of April. Since then, we have focused on water quality and zooplankton production to start growing these guys up. Phase 1 harvest is underway as of this writing. From there, ponds will be re-stocked at new rates, with any surplus going to state and tribal partners. As waters have warmed, Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Bluegill, and Black Crappie have started to do their thing. About 16,000 Smallmouth Bass fry were pulled from the nests in the end of May and restocked into 2 ponds to continue grow out. Soon, it will be time to conduct the phase 1 harvest on the others and divvy them to their new ponds to continue growing. As I take my first trip through a production season, I continue to learn something new every day. I can’t help but ponder the future for these fish. Some may find their way onto somebody’s fishing line and provide a meal or a smile. Some might produce the offspring that somebody catches years down the road. Fun to think about the possibilities! By: Nicholas Bloomfield
Genoa National Fish Hatchery’s mission is to recover, restore, maintain and enhance fish and aquatic resources on a basin-wide and national level by producing over 35 aquatic species of varying life stages, participating in active conservation efforts with our partners, and becoming a positive force in the community by educating future generations on the benefits of conservation stewardship.

DOUG ALOISI, GENOA NFH

Photo Credit: USFWS

Since Genoa National Fish Hatchery (NFH) is centrally located, many Midwestern aquariums periodically contact us for fish for their exhibits to engage the public with. Through these exhibits, our conservation message is also relayed to the public, which helps us to complete our mission to engage the public to conserve and protect our nation’s fish and wildlife resources for the continuing benefit of the nation’s populace. We were able to do this again this spring by making available a net full of nine to ten inch coaster brook trout for display at the world renowned Shedd aquarium at Chicago, Illinois.

These fish were available because of our ongoing cooperative restoration efforts that include the waters of the Grand Portage tribe on the northern shore of Lake Superior in Minnesota. The Fish and Wildlife Service has been working with the Isle Royale National Park staff and the tribe since the mid 1990’s to return this popular sportfish to its formal prominence in eastern Lake Superior. Reservation waters receive 10,000 yearling brook trout from Genoa NFH annually.

Through these efforts and strict harvest limits along the north shore that were implemented by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, fall coaster brook trout surveys have indicated an increase in numbers for the recent decade. Good news for the American people, this popular sport fish and a beautiful native fish historically abundant in Lake Superior.

The Genoa hatchery staff is happy to announce that we are now able to staff the Great River Road Interpretive Center this November with former National Park Service Park Ranger Raena Parsons. Raena joins us as our new Environmental Education Specialist. Raena earned her Bachelor’s degree at Eastern Washington University in 2010, and promptly began her federal career as an intern with the Bureau of Land Management. She also interned with the National Park Service at San Juan Island National Historical Park, and became a full time biological technician at the Historical Park in the same year. She also continued her education, earning her Master’s degree in Environmental Education from Western Washington University. Raena, her husband and daughter made the trek east and arrived just before Thanksgiving. She enjoys family activities, outdoor sports such as rock climbing, running and just plain getting outside. You will find Raena in our new Interpretive Center getting acclimated to our ongoing programs and preparing to build upon a conservation legacy in the community and the Upper Mississippi River Region.

Tagged lake sturgeon ready for release. Credit: USFWS

Fish Biologist James Boase checks tag presence before stocking. Credit: USFWS

Every fall tens of thousands of lake sturgeon depart their temporary home at the Genoa National Fish Hatchery (NFH) and begin their lives out in the wild, beginning the long process of maturing into 20 plus year old fish that are capable of reproducing on their own.  Lake sturgeon populations have been severely reduced throughout their native range the past century due to human influenced effects such as over harvest, dam construction blocking spawning   migrations, and degraded water quality. This year two far off restorations took hatchery crew over 500-1000 miles away in order to restore this intriguing species to two river systems within its native range. Genoa NFH was part of a cooperative effort to return lake sturgeon to the Maumee River, Ohio for the first time since they disappeared from the system in the mid 1900’s. This October, 2,400 fingerling lake sturgeon were transported the 9.5 hours to Toledo, Ohio where they were part of the first release ceremony in a cooperative release effort with the Toledo Zoo.
The fish were tagged with a PIT tag, or Passive Integrated Transponder tag, that transmits a unique tag number to an electronic reader when scanned, much the same as a tag that may be used to tag domestic house pets. They were then
released safely into the waters of the Maumee. The next week, over 12,000 fingerling lake sturgeon were transported over 1,000 miles away to assist the New York Department of Environmental Conservation’s sturgeon restoration efforts. This year the waters of New York benefited by having another year class of lake sturgeon to grow and thrive in the St. Lawrence River, New York and Lake Ontario watersheds. These multiple year restoration programs ensure that lake sturgeon population numbers and genetic diversity are at levels that can begin to rebuild populations naturally once these long lived species begin to multiply on their own again. In these instances, long range partnerships provide great dividends for natural resource conservation in two distant states.

By Doug Aloisi, Genoa NFH