Great Lakes Fisheries
Select Michigan Whitefish
Michigan’s agriculture industry has long known that promoting Michigan-grown fruits and vegetables is a successful marketing strategy. Now, Michigan’s commercial fishing industry is following suit.
Seventeen industry representatives from state- and tribe-licensed operations met in St. Ignace in October 2004 to develop a multi-faceted action plan that will create marketing opportunities for Michigan Great Lakes whitefish. Michigan Sea Grant Extension educators Ron Kinnunen and Chuck Pistis facilitated the industry steering committee meeting.
In a five-year project, Michigan Sea Grant is working with industry stakeholders to assess the Michigan whitefish market, identify and cultivate new markets, enhance consumer awareness and create a brand identity for whitefish products. The efforts are in response to multiple factors that threaten the viability of Michigan’s commercial fishing industry including loss of traditional markets, foreign competition, new regulatory requirements, and ecological change.
Some of the efforts underway include identifying producers and processors to participate in the Select Michigan Whitefish campaign, a promotional partnership with the Michigan Department of Agriculture. The campaign promotes the purchase of Michigan-grown products by Michigan consumers. The whitefish portion of the program would emphasize selection of Michigan whitefish to ensure food safety, quality, taste and freshness, and to support the local economy, strengthen Michigan’s commercial fishery and preserve the state’s rich fishery heritage.
The food and travel show A Fork in the Road featured the attributes of Michigan whitefish and its connection to Michigan’s cultural heritage in segments that aired on 12 PBS stations in January 2005, reaching over 3.7 million households.
Contact: Ron Kinnunen, (906) 226-3687 or Chuck Pistis, (616) 846-8250.
Seafood HACCP
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) standards provide a way to monitor critical points in a process in order to minimize potential hazards associated with a given industrial process.
From 1997 to 2004, Sea Grant and other partners conducted 13 Seafood HACCP workshops, 10 of them on tribal reservations, and trained 288 commercial fisheries, processors, and aquaculturists. Participants came from Great lakes states and from as far away as Florida, Maryland, Nebraska and California. Michigan Sea Grant’s certified HACCP trainer Ron Kinnunen works with industry representatives in the Great Lakes region to develop and assess individual HACCP plans.
A HACCP training course is planned for March 29-31, 2005 at Bay Mills Community College in Bay Mills, Michigan.
Contact: Ron Kinnunen, (906) 226-3687.
Fisheries Publications Available Online
Trout Aquaculture
Michigan Sea Grant’s Ron Kinnunen, Jeff Hinshaw of North Carolina State University, and Gary Fornshell of the University of Idaho, recently completed the following report, A Profile of the Aquaculture of Trout in the United States, available online.
See: www.agecon.msstate.edu/Aquaculture/pubs/Trout_Profile.pdf
Fish Waste Composting
The following report, authored by Ron Kinnunen, M. Charles Gould of MSU Extension, and Peter Cambier of Northern Initiatives, is also available online: Composting Commercial Fish Processing Waste from Fish Caught in the Michigan Waters of the Great Lakes.
See: http://web2.msue.msu.edu/compost/17.pdf
Great Lakes Camp
Great Lakes fisheries education is an important part of the annual Great Lakes and Natural Resources Camp for high school students, co-sponsored by Sea Grant, 4-H and Michigan State University Extension. Fifty-nine teens, ages 13-15, from 25 Michigan counties participated in the camp in August 2004. The week long camp is held in northern Michigan and provides an opportunity to learn about Great Lakes fisheries, coastal processes, wetlands and many other topics. To date, more than 900 students have participated in the camp. More than one-third of the participants rated the camp experience as very helpful in developing career goals and personal interest in natural resources ecology and management.
Students interested in applying for this year’s camp should contact their local MSU county extension office.
Contact: Brandon Schroeder, (989) 984-1056.
See: www.miseagrant.umich.edu/greatlakescamp
Fisheries Management
Researchers led by Michael Jones of Michigan State University employed decision analysis techniques to refine fisheries management for several Great Lakes fisheries through better consideration of the effects of uncertainty. Researchers developed and presented decision analysis models for case studies addressing salmonine stocking in Lake Michigan and sea lamprey control in the St. Marys River.
For the sea lamprey case study, researchers developed models of sea lamprey population dynamics and the effects of different control actions to explore the probabilities of outcomes of different control scenarios. These results were combined with estimates of the costs of these different management options and the range of possible effects on lake trout populations and their restoration in
Lake Huron.
Based on the results, the Great Lakes Fishery Commission will pursue a strategy that integrates lampricides with non-chemical alternative methods, including trapping and sterile-male release programs. The combination offers the most cost-effective solution and a high probability of healthy lake trout and other fish populations in Lake Huron, according to the Fishery Commission.
Success with these case studies has led to additional applications of the research involving whitefish, yellow perch, and walleye. Recently, project researchers have used decision analysis to assist the Lake Erie Committee in developing a harvest management policy for Lake Erie walleye, one of the most important commercial and recreational fisheries in the Great Lakes.
Contact: Michael Jones, (517) 432-0465.
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