This past August our office assisted with the efforts that go in to the chemical treatment of a river for removal of sea lamprey, an invasive organism that is detrimental to the Great Lakes fisheries. Our biologists worked with the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to remove young-of-year lake sturgeon from the Manistee River to protect them from the treatment, which these young sturgeons are also sensitive too. Check back everyday to see the process! But for now here is a slow motion video of the young Lake Sturgeons.
Video is of two small Lake Sturgeon swimming in a tank. Video by Sharon Rayford/USFWS
Do you enjoy waterslides?!
This Rainbow Trout got to ride the ultimate fish water slide inside one of the Great Lakes Mass Marking tagging trailers.
Video is in slow motion and depicts a 3-inch long Rainbow trout exiting a tube into a basin of water filled with other fish that will be coded-wire tagged and have their adipose fin clipped before they are stocked. Video by Lindsey McKinney/USFWS
This little bug is a nymph form of the carnivorous aquatic insect Giant Water Bug. What does that mean? Bug: belongs to the order Hemiptera, have tough forewings and lack teeth, whereas insects are in the order Insecta, tend to have 2 pairs of wings. Nymph: a juvenile stage. Most bugs and insects will go through a series of transformations before reaching their adult form. Carnivorous: They eat flesh (not plants). These bugs can eat tadpoles, snails, and small fish. Aquatic: Live in water. Fun fact: when underwater the Giant Water Bug can breathe the air it traps under its wings, kind of like a scuba tank!
Video description: a small brown bug that has a tear-drop shape a six long legs swims in a plastic container filled with water. Video by Sharon Rayford/USFWS.
Here is a sped up short video looking at biologists and fisherman collecting bloater fish from a bottom trawl net. These fish will be measured and gametes will be collected to start a new brood stock for future generations of bloaters!
Video shows USFWS biologists and Susie Q fisherman emptying out a bottom trawl net full of bloater fish while on a rocking boat. Video by Sharon Rayford/USFWS.
Do you know what it takes to tag the millions of fish the Mass Marking program does every year?
Here is a short video of a biologist and a technician moving pipes that transfer the tagged fish to the correct raceway at the hatchery. On this day, Mother Nature decided to show us some love with 2019’s first snowfall, but work had to go on, snow or no snow!
The video shows two USFWS employees moving long gray pipes to different raceways outside during a snowstorm. Video by USFWS
The grand release! These young lake sturgeon were released into the Kewaunee River last fall for an exciting research study. They are equipped with special-made packs that will help us track their movement and habitat use throughout the river. Stay tuned this spring as we provide updates on our sturgeon backpack project!
Video: A biologists holds a white bucket at the surface of a river. As the bucket is tipped downward, several small lake sturgeon with black backpacks swim out into the river. After several seconds, the small fish swim away into the water and can no longer be seen.
Credit: Stormi Sutter/USFWS
Sometimes it really hits you, how special it is to do the work that we do. Nighttime electrofishing in Chicago is a unique treat, especially when there's a fireworks show on Navy Pier!
Video: The tall buildings of the Chicago skyline are lit up against the night sky as fireworks are set off at Navy Pier.
Credit: Grace Loppnow/USFWS
When you need to move a boat but can’t use a truck, you use a trailer tug! This piece of equipment is brand new to our AIS program and is already coming in handy as they moved our newest AIS boat, the R/V Patronus into the garage for the winter.
The GIF below is showing how the boat dolly helps to move boats without using a traditional truck. GIF by USFWS.
Happy Mollusk Monday! Here’s a really cool video of a freshwater mussel called the Plain Pocketbook (Lampsilis cardium) as it begins to create a mantle lure to entice fish. Freshwater mussels rely on fish (and some amphibians) to host their larvae for a short amount of time. Many mussels have developed elaborate lures, also called a mantle flap, to attract hosts and encourage them to nibble on the tissue. This will release the larval mussels, called glochia, which will attach to the host gills where they will transform and drop off to become mature mussels.
We think this Plain Pocketbook is very alluring ;)
Video: A freshwater mussel is anchored in river substrate with the shells partially open. A flap of dark gray tissue is extended from the shell and moves around in the river current.
Credit: Patrick Ertel/MI DNR
These adorable little lake sturgeon will be part of a telemetry project with our Habitat Program to help us learn more about habitat use and river residency after release! The fish will receive tiny acoustic tags and their location will be recorded on receivers set up along the river and shoreline. Once released, we will be able to track where they move in the river and what kind of habitat they are using. Stay tuned for more updates on this exciting project!
Video: Young of year lake sturgeon swim in a tank at a stream-side rearing facility along the Kewaunee River.
Credit: Jessica Collier/USFWS
What a waterslide! These little sturgeon get released into the Kewaunee River in an epic fashion – an open pipe with running water guides them down the bank and a safely into the water. The sturgeon were stream-side reared at the WI DNR’s Besadny Fish Facility as part of an effort to help restore the lake sturgeon population in the Kewaunee River!
Video: Small lake sturgeon are set on an open pipe with water running through it. Once released, the sturgeon slide down the pipe into the Kewaunee River, WI as part of population restoration efforts.
Credit: Dave Lawrence/USFWS
Six USFWS students recently attended the Baird Safety Course in Cheboygan, Michigan. They learned about the different hazards of working on board the 95-ft Spencer F. Baird, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s research vessel, and practiced different drills, such as man overboard, fire response, and abandon ship. This timelapse video is of a class participant rescuing a class instructor in a man overboard drill. It demonstrates that necessity for practice as 1) different boats have different obstacles to avoid when throwing a rescue float, 2) current and wind can move the life saving line and the victim apart, and 3) hauling the person on to the boat to safety is different between each boat. Knowing how to operate and rescue a conscious and unconscious victim safely is very important skill to have prior to application in the field.
Video: Students jump overboard the Spencer F. Baird research vessel to practice man overboard rescue drills.
Credit: Sharon Rayford, USFWS
Six students recently attended the Baird Safety Course in Cheboygan, Michigan. They learned about the different hazards of working on board the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s 95-ft Spencer F. Baird research vessel and practiced different drills, such as man overboard, fire response, and abandon ship. This time lapse video is of the class practicing getting into survival suits, also called 'gumby suits'. Everyone was able to obtain and don their suits in less than 2 minutes (which is the Deadliest Catch requirement)!!
Video: Students get suited up in red neoprene survival suits to prepare for a swim in Lake Michigan.
Credit: Dave Wedan, USFWS
Electrofishing in action! The Aquatic Invasive Species program crew recently tested out the new GBFWCO electrofishing boat. Check out the short video to see one of our technician capturing a fish and adding it to the livewell.
Video: Two fisheries technicians stand at the bow of a boat and use nets on long poles to scoop up fish that come to the surface during electrofishing surveys.
Credit: Grace Loppnow/USFWS
This one's a bit of an ‘I spy’ game. At 5 seconds, in the center left, you can see a fin break the water's surface. Again, at the end of the video, there are ripples just in front of the boat. These are common carp spawning near Duck Creek in Green Bay. Our Aquatic Invasive Species crew observed them jumping, rolling, and otherwise being very active earlier this week. They like to spawn in swampy, shallow areas, where oxygen levels are often low and so egg predators are few.
Video: The view from the side of a boat while it travels along the Bay of Green Bay near Duck Creek. Small ripples at the surface of the water are caused by common carp as they spawn in the shallow, muddy waters.
Credit: Grace Loppnow/USFWS
During the 2019 Lake Wide Assessment Plan (LWAP) surveys, biologists sampled the lake trout population in Sturgeon Bay. You can watch this short video of a gill net being retrieved from the water as USFWS biologists monitor the progress and survey fish captured in the net.
Video: A gill net is retrieved from the water as USFWS biologists monitor the progress and survey fish captured in the net.
Credit: Sharon Rayford/USFWS
The R/V Smith is in the water for the 2019 season!!
Video is of the research vessel Smith being put into water. Video by Sharon Rayford/USFWS.
Good Morning and Happy Identi-Friday!! Today we have a video for you all to watch. This awesome guy was captured swimming past our cameras at the Menominee Dam. Common name will do, take your best guess and good luck!! Answer will be given at the end of the day.
Protecting young sturgeon in the Muskegon River
Protecting young sturgeon in the Muskegon River:
Every 3-4 years, the Muskegon River has to be treated with the chemical TFM to kill larval lamprey. Unfortunately, these treatments also pose some risk to young lake sturgeon due to naturally high concentrations of minerals found in this and a few other Michigan rivers. So our GBFWCO biologists have been partnering with the Sea Lamprey Control program, the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, the Michigan DNR, and several volunteers to collect young sturgeon from these vulnerable rivers prior to a lamprey treatment, hold them in tanks during the treatment so they are not exposed to the TFM, and then return them to the river after the treatment. Volunteers with another one of our partners, the Muskegon River Watershed Assembly (MRWA), have written a few interesting stories about this year’s efforts.
http://mrwa.org/sturgeon-rescue/
http://mrwa.org/reflections-on-the-lampricide/
