Integrating historical records to compare historical and contemporary coregonine habitat use in the great lakes – Year 4

Cory Brant (USGS, cbrant@usgs.gov) & Karen Alofs (University of Michigan, kmalofs@umich.edu), Katelyn King (University of Michigan))

A methodology for the Gap Analysis (Box 2 of the Coregonine Restoration Template, or CRF; Bunnell et al. 2023) is published as a USGS Cooperator Publication. Our team has begun implementation of the Gap Methodology based on Joint Strategic Plan committee requests coordinated through the CRF, the first being an official request to implement the methodology for cisco (Coregonus artedi) restoration in Lake Erie. Modeling and mapping efforts for the Lake Erie cisco request is completed (lead by King, with guidance from Brant and Alofs), and our data has been used to inform Spatial Unit Delineation and Threats Assessment workshops that were also being implemented through this Lake Erie request. A second official request to implement the CRF methodologies was received for four Lake Ontario coregonine species: bloater (C. hoyi), round whitefish (Prosopium cylindraceum), lake whitefish (C. clupeaformis), and cisco. We plan to continue to implement our Gap Analysis methodology for these requests and have already started to gather environmental layers, look for additional spawning observations, and run preliminary species distribution models for Lake Ontario. Here we are requesting support to continue implementation of the Box 2 Gap Analysis methodology for Year 4. In year 1 (funds received fall 2022, and work starting May 2023), we established a Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) with University of Michigan (to PI Alofs) which allowed us to hire a postdoctoral researcher (co-PI King), who began gathering habitat data layers and began modeling and mapping coregonine habitats to support the CRF. Year 1 funds also allowed us to begin digitizing the commercial catch (COMCAT) collection (50 years of commercial catch records originally stored in microfiche format at USGS-GLSC) through a contracted company. Currently in year 2, we have completed implementation of the methodology for cisco in Lake Erie and bloater for Lake Ontario, producing species distribution models used to inform Spatial Unit Delineation. In year 2, we received additional funds to continue the COMCAT digitizing work and support Dr. Katelyn King for an additional year (year 3), which will carry us through 2025. While we currently have funding secured for year 3 (2025), funding available through this RFP could extend her appointment (or her successor if she achieves a permanent position) through 2026. We are thinking this far forward because, based on existing requests from Lake Ontario that remain partially unfulfilled, and an expected request from Lake Michigan to conduct restoration planning to inform potential cisco restoration, securing funding for 2026 would allow our post-doctoral support to remain uninterrupted through a period where restoration planning is still being requested through the Joint Strategic Plan process.