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By MAKENZIE SCHROEDER, MDNR
Michigan Continues Efforts to Bring Back Grayling
It's been a little over two years since the Michigan DNR, in partnership with the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, announced a new initiative to bring back a long-gone historical species Arctic grayling to the Great Lakes state.
Michigan's Arctic Grayling Initiative - with more than 45 partners, including state and tribal governments, nonprofit organizations, businesses and universities - is committed to reintroducing this culturally significant species, with steady progress made since June 2016.
"Our formal mission as an initiative is to restore self-sustaining populations of Arctic grayling within its historic range in Michigan," said DNR Fisheries Division Assistant Chief Todd Grischke.
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MDNR Report
Largemouth Bass Virus Re-emerges; Confirmed in Iosco County Lake
After a 15-year hiatus, largemouth bass virus has re-emerged in a new northern Lower Peninsula water.
The virus has been confirmed as a factor in a fish kill in Cedar Lake in Iosco County, Mich., with additional lakes in the area being examined. This virus previously affected adult largemouth bass in the early 2000s in southern Michigan lakes. Cedar Lake is near Lake Huron and north of Saginaw Bay.
Largemouth bass virus is one of more than 100 naturally occurring viruses that affect fish and is closely related to viruses found in frogs and other amphibians. Its origin and how it is spread are unknown, but anglers are considered a likely path for transmitting the virus through the movement of live, infected fish from one water to another, or by using contaminated and uncleaned gear or boats in uninfected waters. LMVB is not known to infect humans, and infected fish are safe to eat - as long as the fish is thoroughly cooked.
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By BOB GWIZDZ, MDNR
Michigan DNR Working to Revitalize Sturgeon Population
Lake sturgeon evolutionary ancients that have lived in the Great Lakes almost forever have something in common with Michigan's salmon, which didn't even live around here until a half century ago.
Both types of fish spend most of their time in big lakes but run up rivers to spawn; and they both show surprising faithfulness to their natal streams.
Sturgeon have evolved in the Great Lakes system for so long that they are genetically different from one river to the next.
"It's possible to catch a sturgeon in Lake Michigan, genotype that sturgeon, and we can tell which river it came from," said Ed Baker, a research biologist with the MDNR.
That fact isn't lost on fisheries managers who are attempting to revitalize Great Lakes sturgeon populations.
The multiple agencies involved in the program - the Michigan DNR, Wisconsin DNR, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians - have concluded that rearing fish on site in the streams they are rehabilitating is preferable to distributing them from a central facility, such as the Black River Sturgeon Hatchery in Cheboygan County, which is the Great Lakes most productive sturgeon facility.
They have also found that getting the egg stock from the river in question is better, too.
There are currently eight sturgeon-rearing facilities in the Great Lakes.
In addition to Black River, these include two facilities in Wisconsin, three in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, one on the Kalamazoo River, and the one that started the movement to rear sturgeon streamside, the facility operated by the Little River Band on the Manistee River.
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MDNR Report
Record Sunfish Caught in Berrien County
Michigan has a new state-record hybrid sunfish, caught out of Lake Anne in Grand Mere State Park in Berrien County.
Joel Heeringa, of St. Joseph, Mich., caught the fish July 9 while still-fishing with a crawler. The record fish weighed 1.8 pounds and measured 11.7 inches.
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MDNR Report
Bear Season is Around the Corner; New Population Estimates Available
Michigan's bear hunting seasons are almost here, with the first opening Sept. 10 in the Upper Peninsula.
The Lower Peninsula's first season starts Sept. 14 in select areas, and Sept. 16 for remaining locations below the bridge.
Bear seasons have staggered openers with various locations and hunt periods. For each of the 2017 and 2018 hunting seasons, 7,140 bear licenses were available.