Michigan Department of Natural Resources recently announced plans to release approximately 100,000 Atlantic salmon into Lake Huron and two of its tributary streams during the 2013 spring season.
Stocking locations will include the St. Marys River, Au Sable River, Thunder Bay River, and Lexington Harbor in southern Lake Huron.
The DNR’s Fisheries Division originally experimented with rearing and stocking Atlantic salmon from 1972 to 1982. Due to a lack of success, the program was essentially inactive until 1986.
In the same year, Lake Superior State University (LSSU) began rearing and stocking Atlantic salmon under a memorandum of agreement with the DNR.
Salmon are reared at the LSSU aquaculture laboratory, which is located along the St. Marys River. The laboratory now serves as the sole source of Atlantic salmon eggs in Michigan.
In 2010, the DNR began experimental rearing of Atlantic salmon at its Platte River State Fish Hatchery near Beulah. After two years of refinements, the production of Atlantic salmon yearlings in 2013 has increased considerably.
Atlantic salmon are one of several species of salmonids stocked in the Great Lakes.
For more information, visit www.michigan.gov/dnr