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(Provided by MDNR)
The Michigan DNR, in partnership with the Michigan Muskie Alliance, is investigating the muskellunge fisheries of the state again this year by distributing an online angler survey.
The 2017 Muskellunge Angler Survey will gather information about muskellunge angler demographics and catch data. Muskellunge anglers have been surveyed since 2014, but only online since 2016. Traditional methods, including creel and postcards, have not been as successful as collecting information through electronic means. The current survey can be found on the DNR website at michigan.gov/muskie and the Michigan Muskie Alliance website at www.michiganmuskiealliance.org/.
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Just What Are Muskrats?May is American Wetlands Month - a month to appreciate and enjoy the wonders of wetlands! Take some time to experience this amazing native ecosystem by visiting one of Michigan's Wetland Wonders. There, you may find one of Michigan's most fascinating aquatic mammals - the muskrat.
Muskrats are a rich brown color and are roughly 18-25 inches long from the tip of their nose to the end of their hairless, round, brown tails. They weigh about 2-3 pounds and have partially webbed hind feet to help them swim in the marshes, lakes, ponds and slow-moving streams they inhabit.
Plants are the primary food source for muskrats, including the roots and stems of aquatic plants like cattails, arrowhead, waterlily and rushes. Muskrats will also sometimes eat meat, including fish, crayfish, mussels, turtles and frogs. Muskrats usually feed within 50 to 500 feet of their den.
Muskrats build dens, with one or more underwater entrances, in the sides of elevated banks along streams, lakes and ponds. In marshy areas, muskrats build their homes out of cattails. These cattail houses can be up to 6 feet in diameter and 4 feet high. The walls are up to an inch thick, and the interior of these cozy homes can be 35 degrees warmer than the outside air!
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The Michigan DNR announced it will not collect eggs from Great Lakes muskellunge in the Detroit River this month due to recent fish kills in Lake St. Clair that are attributed to a confirmed, widespread infection of viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus (VHSv).
Normally, the DNR collects eggs from the Detroit Rivers muskellunge population to be reared at Wolf Lake State Fish Hatchery in Mattawan and stocked each fall in Michigan waters throughout the state. With an increasing number of dead muskellunge being found in the Detroit River, and the confirmed presence of VHSv in Lake St. Clair, DNR fisheries managers feel the risk of contaminating this hatchery is too great to proceed with this year's rearing efforts.
VHSv is a contagious pathogen that causes the fish's blood vessels to leak, which can show as bloody patches on the skin. It is known to infect more than 30 species of Great Lakes fish and has been found in lakes Superior, Huron, Erie and Ontario, along with a few inland lakes. Some species such as lake sturgeon and walleye are very resistant to it, while others including bluegill, largemouth bass, muskellunge, gizzard shad and round goby are very susceptible.
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In 2014, the Michigan Natural Resources Commission and the Michigan DNR agreed to maintain deer regulations on a three-year regulatory cycle to stabilize regulations, reduce public confusion and enhance communications.
That three-year time frame has ended, and the DNR has prepared recommended changes to deer regulations and will present those changes at the May 11 NRC meeting.
The NRC has the exclusive authority to regulate the taking of game and sportfish.
Deer are very important to the citizens of Michigan. There is much interest going into this next regulation cycle, especially since we are proposing quite a few changes. It is critical that we provide an extensive summary of any recommended change so those who are interested can voice concerns to the NRC as part of the public input process, said Chad Stewart, DNR deer specialist.
We try to take a comprehensive approach when we construct our proposed changes," Stewart said. "We collected input from public comments and stakeholder groups over the last three years, and have identified the issues that are important to them. We then analyze the data that we have and make recommendations using the best biological and social science available.
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The Michigan Department of Natural Resources today announced that test results on fish collected in the ongoing fish kill event on Lake St. Clair +AFs- http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-153-10366/54559/10402-409793--,00.html +AF0-were confirmed to be positive for viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus (VHSv). Fish were collected during late March and early April and included gizzard shad, bluegill, and black and white crappie.
"A total of 165 fish have been tested thus far using pooled samples of five fish, and of the 33 pooled samples, 31 of them have been positive for VHSv," said Gary Whelan, research program manager for the DNRs Fisheries Division. "Ten gizzard shad were tested individually and all were positive for the virus. These results confirm what we initially suspected, given the external signs on the fish, species involved, and timing of the fish kill, all strongly implicating VHSv as the cause of this fish kill."
Based on both public and other DNR and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reports, the current known distribution of the fish kill event is from Algonac to Lake Erie, with many of the reports from Harrison Township to St. Clair Shores. Initially, the fish kill was mostly gizzard shad, an important forage species, but now is widening to more species and is likely to affect tens of thousands of fish. This event is considered an unusually large fish kill but is smaller than an earlier VHSv-related fish kill in 2006. The reasons for the fish kill occurring this year are under investigation and the mortalities should begin to be reduced with water temperatures rising above 60 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit.