The following list provides titles and objectives for some of the studies currently being conducted by Marquette Fisheries Research Station staff with funds from the Sport Fish Restoration and Interjurisdictional Fisheries Act, the Great Lakes Fisheries Trust, and Fisheries Division.

Study 495: Assessment of lake trout populations in Michigan waters of Lake Superior.
Study Objectives: (1) to annually (or semi-annually) determine relative abundance, length and age composition, sex and maturity, sea lamprey wounding, growth, and mortality for lean and siscowet lake trout in Michigan's Lake Superior lake trout management areas; (2) to periodically determine relative abundance, diet, and biological variables (age, growth, etc.) of lake trout varieties, other predator fish, and forage fish at various depth strata in Lake Superior; (3) To calculate total allowable catch (TAC) for lake trout in Michigan's Lake Superior management areas.

Study 521: Influence of lotic and nearshore habitats on fish populations in Great Lakes and inland lake ecosystems, with emphasis on walleye.
Study Objectives: (1) to assess the extent of natural reproduction of walleye in the Michigan waters of Green Bay via marking stocked fish with oxytetracycline (OTC) and describing their contribution to walleye year classes; (2) to assess the relative influence of river spawning habitat, estuary conditions, juvenile-adult growth habitat, and supplemental stocking on spawning runs of walleye (and estimates of percent natural reproduction) in various river-influenced systems in Michigan, and; (3) to determine if discrete river- and reef-spawning walleye stocks occur in select areas of Green Bay.

Studies 542, 543, & 545: Sturgeon Streamside Rearing (Black Lake, Whitefish River, Cedar River, and Ontonagon River.
Study Objectives: (1) setup and debug streamside hatchery trailers for lake sturgeon; (2) collect gametes; (3) Rear and monitor fish (growth, etc.); (4) Collect tissue samples for genetic analysis, PIT tag fish; (5) Stock fish and monitor post-stocking dispersal/movement; (6) Analyze data and write reports.

Study 549: Assessment of lake whitefish stocks in Michigan waters of the upper Great Lakes.
Study Objectives: (1) to design, maintain, and improve collections of biological data (e.g., length, weight, age structures, sex, maturity, pathological) from lake whitefish harvested by state-licensed commercial fisheries, and to conduct comparative analyses for discrete lake whitefish stocks; (2) to design, use, and improve standard procedures for age and maturity assignments, including regular evaluation of accuracies for these assignments, and stock-specific comparisons for these assignments using different methods; (3) to design, use, and improve a state-wide database for the above biological and pathological data collection; (4) to analyze catch and effort data from state-licensed commercial fisheries, with fisher-specific values of covariates as necessary, and standardize indices of catch-per-unit effort for discrete lake whitefish stocks; (5) to design, maintain, and improve fishery-independent surveys on lake whitefish stocks, such as experimental gillnetting surveys and bottom trawl surveys for developing lake whitefish recruitment indices, and to enable comparative analyses for discrete lake whitefish stocks; (6) to use a modeling approach in assessment of discrete lake whitefish stocks, to estimate their long term sustainable yield, and to recommend annual harvest quotas or assess current status of populations.

Study 552: Groundwater conservation advisory council.
Study Objective: (1) asses the effects of stream flow reduction on fish communities; (2) develop computer models and other tools to help evaluate whether sites are suitable for large groundwater withdrawals.

Study 680: Patterns in community structure, life histories, and ecological distributions of fishes in Michigan rivers.
Study Objectives: The overall objective of this study is to increase our understanding of the factors influencing stream fish community structure and function. Building on information from previous studies, we will: (1) develop models that predict abundances of the most common fishes in Lower Michigan streams. Models will incorporate information on each species': watershed-based, geographic distribution within the Lower Peninsula; response to fragmentation of stream habitats; habitat needs; and susceptibility to biotic interactions; (2) evaluate the role of landscape-scale characteristics of streams in favoring fishes having particular life history characteristics. Develop models predicting life history attributes of predominant fishes in streams varying in size and hydrologic stability; (3) develop an atlas describing the geographic and ecological distributions of fishes in Lower Michigan streams.

Study 732: Factors Affecting Lake Sturgeon Recruitment: A model system for species recovery in Michigan waters of the Great Lakes.
Study Objectives: (1) develop models that relate the timing of spawning to environmental conditions; (2) build on demographic and genetic data collected in 2001 and 2002 to determine contributions from individual adults to annual recruitment, and to estimate adult spawning efficiency and effective population size; (3) estimate fertilization rate as a function of spawner number and sex ratio; (4) determine sources of egg predation and its magnitude prior to larval emergence; (5) determine factors that influence larval survival during downstream drift from spawning sites to rearing habitats; (6) develop a system for assessing juvenile survival and growth in river and lake systems that will be applied to potential restoration sites in Michigan; (7) test predications of timing, sources and magnitude of impediments to recruitment in other streams in Michigan using eggs and larvae of different sizes that are obtained from Black Lake; (8) use data from Black Lake to parameterize models to predict the efficacy of alternative hatchery supplementation strategies in future restoration activities in Great Lakes tributaries.

Study 737: Status and trends of fish populations and community structure in Michigan streams.
Study Objectives: (1) Characterize fish community structure and the abundance, presence, and distribution of fish populations in a variety of stream types across the state; (2) quantify the baseline level of variation in fish population abundance and community structure in a variety of stream types for use in interpreting individual field samples; (3) describe long-term trends in fish community structure and fish population abundance in valuable trout and smallmouth bass streams and representative small coldwater streams across the state; (4) track changes in survival and growth of salmonids and smallmouth bass over time; (5) examine the relation between temporal changes in fish population size and structure and instream habitat; (6) identify appropriate spatial scales for describing regional trends (if any exist) in fish community structure and fish population abundance; (7) compare temporal patterns in resident salmonid abundance, growth, and recruitment among and between land-locked and potamodromous coldwater streams; (8) oversee continued implementation, coordination, and maintenance of the database.

Some recent Fisheries Division reports related to current and completed MFRS studies may be found at the Fisheries Library.