Apr
               MAY
				Jun11
				Next capture2008
               2009
				2010**2 captures**
           8 May 09 - 11 May 09
   Close
       Help


Ashland NFWCO
 Midwest Region
 Dedicated To The Tribal Aquaculture ProgramSeptember        2001-Volume 37**Administrative        Coordinator:        Frank G. Stone         (715-682-6185) Ext.        202        U.S. Fish and        Wildlife Service        Email:         [email protected]**      **Edited        By:        Elizabeth W. Greiff         (715-349-2195) Ext. 141        St. Croix Tribal Nat. Res. Depart.        Email:**      **[email protected]** TopicsOf Interest:  TribalFish Hatcheries of the Great Lakes Region StartingOut In Aquaculture  TribalFish Hatcheries of the Great Lakes Region The MTAN believes that tribal fish hatchery operations willbe made easier if contacts regarding fish rearing practices are available. Theexperience and advice that tribal resource managers have can provide enormousassistance to other hatchery programs. The MTAN sincerely hopes that our readerswill use the information that follows to make contacts with other tribal fishhatchery managers.  The Bad River Tribal Hatchery has been in operation since the early1970's. Throughout this time, the hatchery has concentrated its activity aroundthe culture of walleye fry and fingerlings for the purpose of supplementingexisting natural walleye reproduction within reservation waters. During its first decade of operation, the Bad River tribal fish hatcheryutilized "hand-me-down" equipment. During the past seven years anumber of significant improvements have been made to the facility that haveincreased its reliability, improved working conditions for hatchery crewmembers, and progressively increased walleye fry and fingerling productionlevels and capacities. The Bad River tribal fish hatchery possesses the capacity to incubate andhatch 122 quarts of walleye eggs. Surface water pumped from the Kakagon Riverand groundwater from a 6" well provide the hatchery with an ample supply ofhigh quality water. The hatchery also possesses 3.4 surface acres of pond space for walleyefingerling production. Surface water obtained from the Kakagon River provides ahighly fertile environment for the production of zooplankton that comprise amajor food source for young walleye. The Bad River tribal hatchery produces 8 to10 thousand walleye fingerlings and produces 10-14 million walleye fry annually.Future plans include rearing pond expansion, the use of pond liners, plus thedevelopment of a sturgeon fry/fingerling production program.  The Keweenaw Bay Tribal Hatchery was established in October 1989.Initially housed in a small tribal storage building north of L'Anse, Michigan,the hatchery quickly outgrew that building. It moved into its present 15 acrelocation on Pequaming Bay of Lake Superior in March 1993. The hatchery expandedin 1997 to establish a native brook trout broodstock and brook trout stockingprogram. The goal of Keweenaw Bay's hatchery is to rear native fish (lake andbrook trout) for stocking into Lake Superior and adjacent streams to provide aself-sustaining fishery on the reservation and 1842 ceded waters. The hatcherypresently receives 900 gallons/minute from three deep water wells. Productioncapacity is 100,000 lake trout yearlings (6" fish) and 25,000 brook troutyearlings annually. The hatchery contains thirty-two Heath incubation trays for the trout eggsand eleven- 1,500 gallon fiberglass tanks. The Keweenaw Bay Indian Community hasinvested over $720,000 in this facility to date, with over half of these fundsstemming from gaming profits, an indication of the tribe's commitment to thisfishery. This commitment involves not only re-stocking efforts, but tribalparticipation in fishery assessments and cooperative work towards achieving ahealthy fishery habitat. To date, this facility has stocked over 680,000yearling (5-9") lake trout and 80,000 brook trout. Through 1995-2001, the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community signed a Memorandum ofUnderstanding with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to temporarily utilize theKeweenaw Bay Tribal Hatchery as a lake and brook trout isolation facility. Theoperational plan calls for the transfer of wild lake trout and coaster brooktrout eggs directly to this tribal facility. Once the fish pass a two-yeardisease clearance period, they will be transferred (as future broodstock) toother Federal/State hatcheries. If this broodstock rejuvenation program works asplanned, the Tribe and the Service may decide to continue this program. This project was of special importance to Ashland FRO because of the longterm commitment we have had in developing a broodstock management plan for wildlake trout and brook trout in the Great Lakes. It was during the summer of 1994that Frank Stone (Ashland FRO Fishery Biologist) first presented his idea ofseeking assistance from one of the tribal hatchery programs to help the Serviceintroduce wild lake trout gametes into the National Fish Hatchery system.  The Lac Courte Oreilles Fish Hatchery officially went into productionin the spring of 1992 when construction on a hatchery facility first began.However, prior to the new hatchery, the tribe's natural resources departmentreared walleye and musky using leased incubators and natural ponds. While thefacility is new, the interest and effort towards replenishing the fishery isnot. The Lac Courte Oreilles hatchery houses egg incubation systems and four,clay-lined ponds. Two of the ponds are one acre in size and the remaining twoare a  acre each. The new facility has the capability of incubatingapproximately 7,000,000 eggs in seven Big Redd units, and the capacity of pondrearing approximately 140,000 walleye. Production during 1992 yielded over twohundred 8"-17" musky, which were stocked in reservation lakes. As thehatchery program continues, walleye will be one of the target species.  The Lac du Flambeau Tribal Fish Hatchery was established in 1936 as awalleye, muskellunge, and white sucker egg/fry production facility. Through theyears the hatchery has expanded into a comprehensive fish culture program whichutilizes intensive and extensive fish culture techniques to raise fry andfingerlings. Species of fish raised include walleye, muskellunge, white suckers,fathead minnows, brown trout, brook trout, rainbow trout, cisco, and onoccasion, largemouth bass and smallmouth bass. The fish culture facility includes a 315 McDonald jar hatchery, three walleyeand muskellunge fry tanks, a start tank facility which includes six Heathincubators, six aluminum fry troughs, six 3'x 3'x 15' start tanks, ten 200' x 6'x 4' outside concrete race-ways, and twenty  to one acre earthen ponds. Thewalleye, muskellunge, fathead minnows and bass are raised in the earthen pondsto fingerling sizes, while the trout are raised in the raceway facilities. The majority of the fish are raised to stock the reservation's 158 lakes and34 miles of creeks, rivers and streams. The rainbow trout are produced for sale.Revenues generated are utilized to support the tribal Natural ResourcesDepartment. From 1960 to 1995, the Lac du Flambeau Fish Culture Program has produced over492 million walleye fry, 5.6 million walleye fingerlings, 2.2 millionmuskellunge fry, 107,000 muskellunge fingerlings, 306,867 largemouth bass,49,000 smallmouth bass fingerlings, 140,663 brown trout fingerlings, and 71,105brook trout fingerlings. Approximately 343,812 pounds of rainbow trout were alsoproduced. The stocking program benefits tribal as well as state-licensed anglerswho fish the reservation lakes.  The Lac Vieux Desert Tribe is a newcomer to the business of hatchingfish. The tribe started their fish hatchery program in 1992 using the spaceefficient Big Redd incubators to house fertilized walleye eggs for hatching.Tribal staff, assisted by biologists from the Great Lakes Indian Fish andWildlife Commission and hatchery personnel from other tribes, have collectedwalleye eggs during the tribe's annual spearing harvest. The eggs are fertilizedshortly after the females are milked and then transported to the hatchery's BigRedd unit for incubation. Production capabilities are approximately 1.3 millionwalleye eggs each year. Walleye fry are currently stocked in area lakessurrounding the reservation that were used during spring spearing. Future planscall for construction of rearing ponds to raise the fry to fingerling size andexpansion of the hatchery facility to increase production capabilities.  The Leech Lake Tribal Fish Hatchery was first constructed in 1984 andexpanded just two years later in 1986. This 25,000 square foot indoor complexcontains rearing tank space in addition to an 80 jar egg incubation battery. Dueto increasing production needs, construction began on a 10 acre drainable pondcomplex in 1993. This state of the art hatchery facility has a total capacity ofabout 1,500 quarts of eggs and indoor rearing space for about 400,000 whitefishfingerlings. Once the outdoor pond complex was completed, an additional 500,000fingerling were able to be reared. In addition, this program uses some of thesmall natural lakes on the reservation, as well as some natural rearing ponds onthe White Earth Reservation, to cooperatively rear walleye fingerlings. Annual fish production is 8 to 10 million walleye fry, 50,000 walleyefingerlings, 400,000 lake whitefish fingerlings, and when the need arises,trout, bass, cisco, and panfish are also produced. In addition, upwards of20,000,000 white sucker eggs are collected annually. These eggs are incubated,hatched and sold to bait growers who in turn rear and sell them as fishing bait. All of the game fish are stocked back into lakes and streams on thereservation for tribal subsistence harvest as well as tribal and non-tribalrecreational fishing. Whitefish support a tribal commercial fishery and othernongame fish species are also commercially harvested by tribal members. Acommercial bait harvest industry, regulated by the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwealso exists.  The Menominee Tribe initiated its hatchery program in 1992 focusing onthe rearing of walleye fry to fingerlings. The hatchery received walleye fryfrom the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) in 1992. These fry were rearedin a natural rearing pond and stocked into four reservation lakes. The successof the rearing/stocking project spurred the tribe to further development. In 1993 the tribe's conservation department began constructing four, one acreearthen ponds to replace the natural lake pond and increase the rearingcapacity. Each of the ponds will have the capacity of rearing 100,000 fry tofingerling size. About five acres of land was procured for the project andlandscaped for the installation of four pond catch basins and a well. The tribeis also considering branching into in-stream incubation of rainbow trout eggsfor on-reservation streams.  The Nunns Creek Fishery Enhancement Facility, located near Hessel,Michigan, was purchased in 1987 by the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe on behalf of theChippewa/Ottawa Treaty Fishery Management Authority, which also serves the BayMills Indian Community and the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and ChippewaIndians. Concern for the preservation of a fishery under pressure from bothsport and commercial efforts prompted tribal involvement on behalf of its treatycommercial fishermen. The Nunns Creek facility has approximately 75 square feet of indoor rearingspace and 1,200 square feet outdoors. In addition, four ponds totalingapproximately 250 acres are used for walleye fingerling production. These pondsconsist of an 8 and 15 acre pond used to culture fathead minnows in addition toa 200 acre pond used for both the culture of fathead minnows and subsequentextended walleye fingerling production. A newly purchased 40 acre drainable pondis used to culture summer walleye fingerlings. This facility has the potential to produce approximately 1,000,000 two inchwalleyes and 100,000 six to ten inch walleyes. These fish are stocked into allthree of the upper Great Lakes in order to promote and enhance tribal commercialfishing in these areas. Walleye eggs are typically collected in mid to late April mostly fromMunuscong Lake of the St. Marys River system. Approximately 2-3 million eggsare collected. After about 30 days, hatching occurs and the fry are transportedto rearing ponds about 30 miles away. In 1998 approximately 767,958 walleyefingerlings were stocked from this facility (728,248 two inch and 39,710 seveninch walleye). All of these fish were stocked into the 1836 treaty ceded watersof the Great Lakes. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources annually stocks500,000 chinook salmon above the facility at Nunns Creek. As the chinook salmonbecome sexually mature and return, they are guided up a fish ladder into a largeraceway where biological data is recorded. The indoor circular tanks have beenused to hold walleye fry, whitefish fingerlings, and to hold adult sea lampreyfor a cooperative tag/recapture study.  The Red Cliff Tribal Fish Hatchery was established in 1994, as a troutand walleye rearing facility, after many years of rearing fish in small,temporary hatcheries. Through the years the hatchery has increased in size andproduction into a comprehensive fish culture program. The 40' x 100' mainbuilding houses the fisheries and hatchery management offices, and the intensivecoldwater production area which includes an incubation area, fry tanks,laboratory, furnace/pump room, and twenty large raceways for fingerlings andbroodstock fish. Cold water (47 degrees F) is supplied from two 300' wells with50hp submersible pumps capable of 600 gallons per minute each. Red Cliff has developed a coaster brook trout (Lake Nipigon strain)broodstock consisting of three year classes with assistance from the Dorian FishCulture Station in Ontario. These broodstock begin producing eggs during thefall of 1997 to be used in the restoration/reintroduction of coaster brook troutin Lake Superior. Currently, this is the only known broodstock for the LakeNipigon strain brook trout that is available in the U.S. The Red Cliff TribalFish Hatchery is a disease free facility and is designated as a Class A facilityby the USFWS LaCrosse Fish Health Center. Red Cliff is also actively involved in raising walleye throughout the summer.Eggs and milt are collected from tribally speared fish in the spring. Thefertilized eggs are transported to the coolwater production area for incubation.A new building was constructed in 1997 for coolwater species rearing. Thisbuilding will contain a bell jar incubation battery and several Big Reddincubation units, capable of incubating over 8.0 million walleye eggs, tworectangle fry tanks, and six circular rearing tanks for intensive culture. Afterhatching, the walleye fry are placed into the hatcherys drainable rearingponds or into several cooperators ponds for additional rearing. Extended growthwalleyes (6-10 inches) are removed from the ponds in the fall, marked, andreleased back to the lakes that they were initially collected from as eggs. Anyquestion, suggestions, or to schedule a tour of the hatchery please contact GregFischer at 715-779-3728.  The Red Lake Fish Hatchery has been in operation since 1924 when itwas first built in Redby, Minnesota. At that time, the tribal commercial fisheryand the hatchery were managed by the Minnesota Department of Game and Fish underan agreement with the tribe. However, in 1929 the management agreement betweenthe tribe and the state ended, and the tribe has successfully operated the fishhatchery ever since. Walleye and northern pike are the principal speciespropagated for stocking the Red Lakes. The hatchery's story has been one of growth and improvement. One of the firstmajor improvements was the construction of a dam on Mud Creek, adjacent to thehatchery. The dam created a reservoir which supplies a free-flowing source ofwater to the hatchery. A new fish hatchery was constructed in 1991 to replacethe old facility, which had become structurally unsound. The new facility isequipped with 200 egg hatching jars, which yields a total incubating capacity of75 million walleye eggs. In the past, the Red Lake Fisheries Association and the Red Lake Departmentof Natural Resources have operated a spawning station at the Blackduck River,which is the principal tributary to Lower Red Lake. Eggs collected at thestation have been taken to the hatchery for incubation and rearing. All fry werethen stocked into the reservation waters of Red Lake. Operations have beensuspended due to the collaspes of the walleye stocks. Cooperative efforts arecurrently underway to recover the walleye population. Likely in the spring of2003 spawning operations will commence again and will be an instrumental tool inrecovering the walleye stocks. New projects underway at the Red Lake hatchery include a 2700 gallonexperimental recirculating perch aquaculture facility. Efforts are being made todetermine if tank culture of yellow perch is a viable economic venture.Information has been collected since 1999 and over the next several years theoutcome will be determined. Currently we are exploring the possibility ofcollecting and selling fertilized white sucker eggs to the State of Minnesota toassist in their musky rearing program. For further information on hatcheryoperations at Red Lake contact Pat Brown.  The Sokaogon Chippewa fish hatchery project started in 1990 when oneBig Redd incubation unit was obtained from the Great Lakes Indian Fish andWildlife Commission. With that unit the tribe began an initiative to reproduceand stock walleye and has continued to grow as the tribe seeks to expand thehatchery's capacity and improve the facility. In 1992 with the addition of three Big Redd units, a total of 902,000 walleyefry were hatched. Fifty thousand of those fry were donated to the Forest CountyWalleye Association. Remaining fry were released into area lakes speared by theSokaogon Chippewa. In 1993, three million walleye eggs were collected from speared walleye insix lakes with a resulting hatch of approximately two million walleye fry. Thecurrent hatchery is presently under re-construction. The Sokaogon Chippewa lookforward to a more successful rearing seasons once the new hatchery facility iscompleted.  The St. Croix Tribe's walleye management program is an integral partof the tribes cooperative work to maintain Wisconsins fishery for futuregenerations. The tribe began stocking in 1980, first buying their fingerlingsfrom other tribes. In 1987, St. Croix signed a cooperative rearing agreementwith the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. With the DNR supplying fryand technical assistance, the tribe leased farm ponds to raise the fish. In 1989, the tribe hired a biologist to lead the project. Today the tribeemploys four full-time and three part-time fisheries specialists in its NaturalResources Department and has invested over $225,000 in hatchery equipment andfacilities. St. Croix began collecting and incubating walleye eggs in 1990. Fisheriesstaff collect eggs in the spring from adult walleye netted in area lakes. Theeggs hatch in three to four weeks in the Tribe's custom built incubators. Stafftransport the fry to rented farm ponds used to grow the walleye to fingerlingsize. Harvest crews begin netting the fish from the ponds about six weeks later. Since 1987, St. Croix has stocked over 1.7 million walleye fingerlings andyearlings and 4.2 million walleye fry. The fish have been planted in 33 publiclyaccessible lakes used by tribal harvesters in the northwestern Wisconsincounties of Barron, Burnett, Douglas, Polk, and Washburn. St. Croix has operated a walleye population assessment electrofishing boatsince 1991 in cooperation with the Great Lakes Indian Fish and WildlifeCommission. The tribes crew conducts about 5 spring adult walleye populationestimates and 40 fall juvenile walleye abundance surveys annually throughout the1837 and 1842 ceded territory.  The White Earth Hatchery, managed through the tribe's biologydepartment, has been in production since 1982. The hatchery is located south ofIce Cracking Lake in Minnesota and is operated for the benefit of the WhiteEarth Reservation's Chippewa people. Reservation lakes have been the target ofthe hatchery's stocking program since its inception. In 1992, a record 202,575walleyes were stocked in 36 lakes and one river. A total of 514,385 walleyeshave been stocked since the program began in 1983. Like other tribal hatcheries, the facility has continued to improve andexpand over the years. Expansion included the construction of four,  acrerearing ponds capable of producing 140,000 walleye fingerlings per year, a newsettling pond, a lake pumping station, and a well head filtration protectionunit. In addition, the hatchery has improved both site security and sitemaintenance. The fishery program also operates 10-15 natural ponds for anadditional 70,000 walleye fingerlings per year. In addition, new technologies that are being applied to walleye and othercool/coldwater species culture will soon be implemented. The current goal is tostabilize production at approximately 50,000 fingerlings per year throughout thefish hatchery's rearing pond complex and natural ponds. The tribe is actively managing seventy four lakes. Current fishery managementoperations include electrofishing lakes to help determine the level of naturalreproduction, lake population assessments, winterkill and stocking assessments,and creel census.  StartingOut In Aquaculture, PLANNING AND PROFESSIONAL HELP PAY OFF By : Clint W. Wendt, NorthernEnvironmental Technologies, Inc.1203 Storbeck Drive, Waupun,Wisconsin 53963, (800) 498-3921 Mr. Wendt is anenvironmental scientist in Northern Environmental'sWaupun, Wisconsin office. Northern Environmental is a full service environmentalengineering and consulting firm with offices in Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota,Illinois, and Iowa. A new addition to agriculture in the upper midwest is aquaculture. Hiring an environmental professional can help you planyour facility properly and guide you through the appropriate regulatoryapprovals. Aquaculture can include the rearing of aquatic plants, fish, amphibians, andmollusks. Regardless of which type of product is grown, one thing allaquaculture operations require is water. A good source of water quality andquantity is required for a sustainable operation. Perhaps you have a creek orspring that you wish to dam, or maybe you are considering drilling a well foryour water supply, maybe you are thinking of digging a series of ponds in awetland. Before you get too involved in your own planning process, it isimportant to know if your design will work and to know the limitations thatlocal, state, and federal laws have on your proposed operation. The following examples illustrate how an environmental consultant could havesaved time, money, and improved working relationships with federal and stateregulators during the planning and construction of a simple pond project. (1) Suppose you were to excavate a pond in a low area that is usually onlywet in the spring. You begin construction and a local complaint results in aregulatory agency, such as the United States Corps of Engineers or a StateDepartment of Natural Resources doing an inspection and determining that thearea is a jurisdictional wetland, subject to state and federal regulation.Furthermore, you did not have effective erosion control practices in place, andplaced the pond spoils in a wetland. The regulatory agency could put a halt toyour construction when you had a contractor and equipment secured, require youto obtain the necessary permits, or possibly even issue penalties or fines. Itis usually more difficult to work with a regulatory agency once you have"gotten off on the wrong foot". In this example, an environmentalprofessional may have been able to help you by mapping the wetland so that youcould avoid that area and subsequently avoid permitting. If the wetland couldnot be avoided, the consultant could assist by preparing permit applicationswith the necessary supporting technical documentation. (2) An individual designed a series of ponds which use water from a springfed source. The planned facility was not located in a wetland, however was neara navigable stream. Heavy rainfalls flooded the ponds causing them to overflowthe banks, resulting in a loss of fish to the stream. This is an example of poordesign. An environmental professional could have helped size the ponds to handlecertain flood events or locate them in an area that would not be as susceptibleto flooding. Numerous similar real-life examples exist. High capacity well sitting andpermitting, damming a waterway, pond design, circulation system design (pump andpipe sizing) and water quality evaluations are all services that anenvironmental engineering firm may be able to offer. Selecting an engineering firm, one with experienced environmentalprofessionals, should be an early step in your planning process. You shouldresearch the firm*squalifications such as staff, relevant experience and references. Also, the firmsfees should be considered. A good firm will provide these upon your request. Once you select a qualified company, remember to take your ideas to theprofessionals for their consideration. Just because you hire a professional doesnot mean that you cannot have any input. A good consultant will consider yourideas and incorporate those into a final design. If an idea will not work forregulatory or environmental reasons, the reasons should be explained to you. When getting started in aquaculture, proper planning is critical.Professional assistance should be an integral part of your planning process. Ifyou are planning to construct an aquaculture facility, hiring an environmentalprofessional may be well worth the consultant*scosts in avoiding problems and conflicts affiliated with poor design. Quiteoften the initial costs of contracting with a consultant can be recovered in thevery first years of operation. **Returnto MTAN selection pageReturn to Ashland NFWCO home pageReturn to Region 3 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service**Product and company        names mentioned in this publication are for informational purposes only.        It does not imply endorsement by the MTAN or the U.S. Government.
 
 Ashland Home Midwest Region Home
 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Home Page Department of the Interior USA.gov About the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Accessibility Privacy Notices Disclaimer FOIA
 Find Office By ProgramAdministrationEcological ServicesExternal AffairsFisheriesLaw EnforcementMigratory BirdsRefugesState Programs