Coregonines were once among the most diverse and ecologically, economically, and culturally important groups of fishes in the Great Lakes (Koelz 1929; Smith 1968; Eshenroder et al. 2016; Duncan 2020). Coregonines declined dramatically throughout the Great Lakes in...
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Lake Whitefish/C. clupeaformis
Implementing science planning methods within the Coregonine Restoration Framework via expert knowledge elicitation and workshop facilitation
The Coregonine Restoration Framework includes a Planning Phase that is divided into four elements: (1) resolving coregonine taxonomy using genetics and ecology and delineating spatial units for conservation and restoration, (2) describing and mapping historical and...
Development of conceptual early life history models and evaluation of sampling techniques in support of long-term monitoring for cisco and lake whitefish
Recruitment is set early during life (<2 years of age) for many fish populations (Hjort 1914, Houde 1987). From fertilization to juvenile stages, fishes are susceptible to abiotic and biotic factors that directly or indirectly influence growth, condition, and survival (Ludsin et al. 2014, Pritt et al. 2014). The mechanistic processes influencing recruitment, their interactions,and the timing at which they are most influential remains unclear for many fishes. By improving understanding of early life history (ELH) ecology and recruitment constraints, we can improve monitoring and support more informed management decisions. Long-term ELH monitoring programs that inform management are limited for cisco (Coregonus artedi) across the Great Lakes.
Supporting evaluation components of the Lake Huron Technical Committee’s Cisco reintroduction study: a multi-agency effort to promote Cisco recovery in the western main basin of Lake Huron (FY22)
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife service conducted larval coregonine surveys in 2022 aimed at documenting the current distribution, composition, and density of the larval coregonid community in Saginaw Bay. Sampling of the ichthyoplankton community was limited to pelagic...
Use of multi-gear sampling to improve abundance estimates of demersal Coregonines in the Great Lakes
Acoustic and mid-water trawl surveys have been used to estimate abundance and biomass of Great Lakes coregonines for decades. Acoustic sampling has potential to be an important tool in the assessment of future coregonine restoration efforts because new populations...
Supporting evaluation components of Lake Huron Technical Committee’s cisco reintroduction study: a multi-agency effort to promote cisco recovery in the western main basin of Lake Huron (FY21)
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife service conducted larval coregonine surveys in 2021 aimed at documenting the current distribution, composition, and density of the larval coregonid community in Saginaw Bay. Sampling of the ichthyoplankton community was limited to pelagic...
Supporting evaluation components of the Lake Huron Technical Committee’s cisco reintroduction study: a multi-agency effort to promote cisco recovery in the western basin of Lake Huron (FY19)
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife service conducted two surveys in 2019 aimed at documenting the current distribution, composition, and density of the larval coregonid community in Saginaw Bay. Sampling was limited to pelagic ichthyoplankton and beach seining due to the...
How have changes to coregonine spawning habitat influenced reproductive success?
Lake Ontario’s Cisco, Coregonus artedi, and Lake Whitefish, Coregonus clupeaformis populations have declined for centuries and surveys suggest populations are impeded during early life stages. This project developed methods to quantify habitat specific coregonine egg...
Integrating historical records to compare historical and contemporary coregonine habitat use in the great lakes
Understanding and comparing historic and contemporary habitat use and distributions of coregonines (Gap Analysis, Box 2) has been deemed essential to inform all boxes of the Great Lakes coregonine restoration framework; there are dependencies between planning boxes...
Developing a Great Lakes-wide database of coregonine stocking
A database of information associated with the release of hatchery-raised Coregonine fishes of Great Lakes origin was constructed and populated with all available records (>4,700) of stocking events. The information includes species, quantities, life stages, source...
Implementation of a gap analysis: comparing historical and contemporary coregonine habitat use in the Great Lakes
Understanding and comparing historic and contemporary habitat use and distributions of coregonines (Gap Analysis, Box 2) has been deemed essential to inform all boxes (Planning Phase) of the Great Lakes coregonine restoration framework (CRF). We are requesting support...
Implementation of Coregonine population viability analysis within the Coregonine restoration framework – Year 2
The Coregonine Restoration Framework provides an adaptive management structure to guide restoration of this suite of species in the Great Lakes Region. Initial steps in this effort are underway with the establishment of four science teams [Resolve Taxonomy, GAP...
Identifying and characterizing coregonine spawning habitat in Lake Erie
Historically, Lake Erie supported large catches of Lake Whitefish and Cisco, but presently Cisco are considered extirpated and Lake Whitefish catch rates are highly variable (Oldenburg et al. 2007). For example, Lake Whitefish commercial harvest increased in the...
Building an adaptive tool for mapping habitat and species to support the Great Lakes coregonine conservation and restoration framework
Coregonines have declined substantially over the past century throughout the Great Lakes. A basin-wide framework, adopted by the Council of Lake Committees, has been developed to conserve and restore these ecologically and economically important native fishes. We are...
Inventorying Great Lakes survey and life history information to facilitate coregonine science, conservation, and restoration
Population models are a critical tool for informing native fish conservation and the types of models that can be developed are determined by data availability. In the Great Lakes, the size of the ecosystems and the multi-organizational management approach means...
Inventory and assessment of coregonine spawning locations in lakes Erie and Ontario, including connecting channels
This project involved two phases. First, to identify locations of key habitats for coregonines in lakes Erie and Ontario and their respective connecting channels, we conducted a literature review of historical spawning, nursery, and adult habitat sites where...
Redesigning nearshore and offshore fish community protocols to incorporate new species identification approaches and determine optimal sampling strategies
The objective of this work was to begin the process of describing Lake Superior larval ciscoe population dynamics at the species level, something which was not possible prior to 2019 (Ackiss et al. 2020) and use this information to develop standard collection protocols. From 2014-2023, larval fish were sampled at 163 and collected at 159 locations across Lake Superior. Due to COVID restrictions, no sampling occurred in 2020 and sampling in 2021 was limited to USA waters. Across all years, this sampling yielded 90,618 ciscoe larvae of which 11,751 individuals were identified based on genomics. The 4,369 larval ciscoes collected in 2023 have not yet but will be genomically identified. Genomic identifications yielded 78 Bloater, 8,671 Cisco, 75 Lake Whitefish, 1,969 Kiyi, and 958 putative hybrids. Principal findings include the widespread distribution of all species across the lake by July; high annual variation in hatching dates, sequential species hatch dates that match chronological spawning periods; Cisco first, Kiyi second, and Bloater third, and the occurrence of a genetically unique stock of Cisco along the north shore of the lake.
In 2022, unprecedented larval ciscoe survival past July provided an opportunity to collect young age-0 ciscoes in August, September, and October and evaluate their population dynamics. This effort resulted in the collection and genomic identification of 79 Bloater, 456 Cisco, 1,086 Kiyi, and 77 putative hybrids. A principal finding to date was documenting the late-summer movement of these fish from the surface, their preferred habitat in May-July, to 10-15 m below the surface in early August at around 25 mm in total length. This discovery has implications for when and how these fish can be collected.
A third outgrowth of this study was the opportunity to compare morphological-based species identifications to genomic-based species identifications for age-0 and near age-1 fish. This work could lead to a better understanding of which species, and at which size they can be reliably identified aboard the ship based on morphological characteristics. Dual identifications to date include 503 Bloater, 81 Cisco, 75 Kiyi, 3 Shortnose Cisco, 4 Pygmy Whitefish, and 89 putative hybrids, with an additional 2,292 age-1 ciscoes collected in 2023 remaining to be genomically identified. Preliminary analyses show rates of accurate morphological identification as compared to genomics to be highest for Cisco and lowest for Bloater, with the overall identification accuracy exceeding 90% for all three ciscoes when total length exceeds 140 mm.
Comparing genetic population structure of Great Lakes cisco and lake whitefish to help determine restoration targets
Species diversity is necessary for the maintenance of sustainable fisheries because differential use of habitats can help buffer against unpredictable conditions. Therefore, an important first step to maintaining or restoring species diversity is describing extant...
How does ecological function correspond to morphology in coregonines from Lakes Superior, Michigan, and Huron?
Fish managers recognize the value of diversity, within species and within communities, but most are focused on how diversity translates to function within the food web. For example, how does the diet of lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) differ from that of cisco...
Building molecular tools for coregonine species identification
The larval phase of Coregonus spp. represent a bottleneck in year class strength that is not well understood in extant populations and could present an impediment for coregonine restoration efforts in the Great Lakes. The use of species-specific DNA sequences to...
Spatio-statistical modeling and field validation of coregonine spawning and nursery locations for the Great Lakes, including connecting channels and major tributaries
This research builds on the spawning habitat inventory work [GLRI: Inventory and assessment of coregonine spawning locations in lakes Erie and Ontario, including connecting channels] by using data gleaned from the previous study to develop descriptive and predictive...
Dedicated surveys to describe the distribution and abundance of a remnant cisco population in Green Bay
Contemporary spawning of cisco and lake whitefish is not known to occur in southern Green Bay but in recent years a small number (< 10 per year) of cisco adults have been recovered along the Door Peninsula, and lake whitefish larvae have been captured in drift...
Are cisco and lake whitefish competitors in the Great Lakes? Implications for future reintroduction efforts
The overall objective of this project was to evaluate historical commercial gill net fishery data available for State of Michigan waters of Lakes Superior, Michigan, and Huron for evidence of potential negative interactions between Cisco Coregonus artedi and Lake...