Continue to collect baseline information of larval coregonine community validated with genetic species identification. Sampling of the Saginaw Bay larval coregonine community was completed during the spring of 2021 using pelagic ichthyoplankton tows, beach seines, and...
Post Archive:
Distribution & Movement
Clarifying larval Cisco and Lake Whitefish spatial ecology across habitat gradients to support evaluation, restoration, and management
Standardized early life monitoring programs for Cisco (Coregonus artedi) and Lake Whitefish (C. clupeaformis) are needed to evaluate outcomes of restoration interventions (Bunnell et al. 2023), but designing surveys that effectively sample each species ultimately...
Can hatchery-origin coregonines be used to identify potential spawning habitats in Lake Ontario?
Lake Ontario, bloater (Coregonus hoyi) populations declined from the late 1800s-1900s and ultimately were extirpated from the lake by 1983 (Weidel et al. 2022). Few records exist to document critical habitats used by bloater before their extirpation (Goodyear et al....
Determining when and how Cisco and Lake Whitefish recruitment can be reliably indexed to support evaluation, restoration, and management
Contemporary distribution and abundance of larval cisco in Lake Michigan
Integrating historical records to compare historical and contemporary coregonine habitat use in the great lakes – Year 4
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...
Development of a Novel Telemetry Tag Attachment Method for Understanding Coregonine Ecology, Movements, and Habitat Use
Acoustic telemetry is at the forefront of fisheries research and management in the Great Lakes, and the combination of the ever-expanding receiver network coupled with over 25,000 tagged fish across 53 species (since 2010) continues to provide a wealth of critical...
Continuing evaluation components of the Lake Huron Technical Committee’s Cisco reintroduction study for FY25
Cisco (Coregonus artedi) are functionally absent from the western main basin of Lake Huron and as such restoring Cisco “to a significant level” (DesJardine, 1995) remains an unmet objective for Lake Huron management agencies (Riley and Ebener, 2020). In 2007 the Lake...
Evaluating Bloater (Coregonus hoyi) natural reproduction in Lake Ontario
Evaluation of fisheries restoration actions such as the reestablishment of coregonine populations requires a life stage approach to evaluate program success and improve understanding on potential recruitment bottlenecks. Prior to their extirpation, Lake Ontario...
Expanding efforts to document and understand Great Lakes coregonine river spawning – Year 2
Restoration and conservation efforts hinge on the identification of key habitats, such as fish spawning habitats (Lewis et al. 1996; Kondolf 2000), and the potentially distinct populations that use them. Knowledge of these habitats can help to ensure that conservation...
Expanding efforts to document and understand Great Lakes coregonine river spawning
Our project team sampled five Great Lakes tributaries in fall 2022 and spring 2023 to assess evidence of tributary spawning by coregonines, such as cisco Coregonus artedi and lake whitefish C. clupeaformis. Specifically, we sampled the Chaumont River, Niagara River,...
Evaluating post-stocking movement, mortality, and habitat use of fall-stocked cisco Coregonus artedi in Saginaw Bay, Lake Huron with acoustic telemetry
The Lake Huron Committee aims to restore cisco Coregonus artedi in Lake Huron (DesJardine et al. 1995; Lake Huron Technical Committee 2023). To that end, the Lake Huron Technical Committee has implemented a plan for re-establishing a population in the main basin of...
Supporting evaluation components of the Lake Huron Technical Committee’s Cisco reintroduction study for FY23
Cisco (Coregonus artedi) are functionally absent from the western main basin of Lake Huron and as such restoring cisco “to a significant level” (DesJardine 1995) remains an unmet objective for Lake Huron management agencies (Liskauskas et al. 2007). In 2007 the Lake...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Historical habitat use by Coregonus artedi in Lake Michigan
With the global-scale loss of biodiversity, current restoration programs have been often required as part of conservation plans for species richness and ecosystem integrity. The restoration of pelagic-oriented cisco (Coregonus artedi) has been an interest of Lake...
Contemporary habitat selection and survival of cisco in Lake Erie
This project addressed impediments to the rehabilitation of Cisco (Coregonus artedi) in Lake Erie through the application of acoustic telemetry to develop novel data on habitat use and survival of experimentally stocked fish. We tagged Cisco at the Tunison Laboratory...
Movements and habitat use of cisco along a nearshore-offshore gradient in northern Lake Huron
Historically, the Great Lakes supported large and diverse cisco populations until overfishing, establishment of invasive species, and habitat loss resulted in large-scale extirpation during the mid 19th century. Managers have prioritized recovery of cisco in Lake...
Historical habitat use by Coregonus artedi in the upper Great Lakes and critical embayments
The restoration of the once abundant cisco (Coregonus artedi) is a management interest across the Laurentian Great Lakes. To inform restoration, we describe historical distributions of cisco in the upper Great Lakes (i.e., Lakes Superior, Michigan, and Huron) by...
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...