Reintroduction of Cisco (Coregonus artedi) from the Les Cheneaux Island region into Saginaw Bay began in 2018, when 1.1 million fall fingerlings (mean size ~ 75 mm total length, TL) were stocked after being reared at Jordan River National Fish Hatchery (JRNFH). In...
Post Archive:
Hatchery Rearing Techniques
Evaluating the effects of tank color and environmental complexity on cisco phenotypes, coloration, and epigenomics
Captive rearing is an important component of restoration efforts for declining fish populations, including coregonines such as cisco (Coregonus artedi) in the Great Lakes. However, captive rearing often leads to unintended fitness and phenotypic effects on salmonids....
Coregonine Captive Broodstock Developed from Wild-Caught Juveniles: Strategies to Increase Survival of Captured Juvenile Coregonines and Exploration of Long-Term Holding and Spawning
Coregonine restoration has largely relied on established hatchery broodstocks, human-facilitated spawning of ripe fish in the field, or leveraging commercial fisheries for gamete collection. These methods can induce unintended consequences such as hybridizations and...
Enhancing Kiyi (Coregonus kiyi) research to support the conservation and restoration of deep-water coregonine diversity in the Laurentian Great Lakes – Year 2
In FY22, we received one year of GLRI funding to explore the feasibility of making and rearing Kiyi or Kiyi-hybrid crosses for the establishment of research stocks at the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians (LTBB) Hatchery, Ann Arbor wet lab (AA), and...
Coregonine Captive Broodstock Developed from Wild-Caught Juveniles: Dual Strategies to Mitigate Barotrauma-Induced Mortality
The role of DNA methylation in morphological deformities in artificially reared cisco (Coregonus artedi)
We propose a pilot project to investigate the effects of artificial rearing on cisco DNA methylation. This project will build on an ongoing project funded in FY24 led by A. Honsey (“Effects of incubation temperature on survival, growth, morphology, and gene expression...
Impact of egg fatty acid signatures on embryo viability in wild and domesticated cisco
One of the major challenges in the aquaculture of bloater (Coregonus hoyi) and cisco (Coregonus artedi) is the low survival rate of larvae from hatchery-reared broodstock compared to wild broodstock. Percent eye-up of bloater eggs from parents fed different diets at...
Evaluation of sequential chemical marking of Oxytetracycline, Alizarin Red S, and Calcein in calcified structures of bloaters (Coregonus hoyi)
This project will investigate the unique chemical marking patterns produced within the otoliths, lower jaw, and ribs of bloaters after sequential immersions of Oxytetracycline (OTC), Alizarin Red S (ARS), and calcein. This project is fully aligned with the Coregonine...
Effects of incubation temperature on survival, growth, morphology, and gene expression of artificially reared cisco (Coregonus artedi): implications for best practices for captive propagation and restoration
A key tool for Great Lakes coregonine restoration is reintroduction via fish stocking. Stocking programs are currently underway, including efforts to restore cisco Coregonus artedi in Saginaw Bay, Lake Huron (Lake Huron Technical Committee 2007; Riley and Ebener 2020)...
Is handling and transport stress limiting post-stocking survival of yearling bloater C. hoyi in Lake Ontario?
Bloater (C. hoyi) have been stocked in Lake Ontario for 11 years with limited success (15 total recaptures; Weidel et al., 2022). Short term (1-12 days) post-stocking survival has been estimated at 42% with 22% of the mortality occurring in the first hour post-release...
Enhancing Kiyi (Coregonus kiyi) research to support the conservation and restoration of deep-water coregonine diversity in the Laurentian Great Lakes
The abundance of the deepwater preyfish Kiyi (Coregonus kiyi) in Lake Superior makes it a high-value target for restoring extirpated populations in Lakes Michigan, Huron, and Ontario. Managers from several Great Lakes have informally indicated strong interest in...
Implementation and testing of hatchery enhancements at Allegheny National Fish Hatchery to increase production and improve health and quality of juvenile bloater raised for restoration stocking in Lake Ontario
The proposed project will install 16 15-foot circular fiberglass tanks to replace 10 45-year-old concrete raceways (scalable down to 8 tank option). The project will also assess a side-by-side production level comparison of fish health, water use, fish growth,...
Can stocked Bloater (Coregonus hoyi) survival be increased with environmental conditioning?
Bloater (Coregonus hoyi) were historically an important component of the Lake Ontario fish community but the species was likely extirpated by the 1970’s. A binational restoration has stocked over one million Bloater into Lake Ontario since 2012, however, low...
Production, fish health surveillance, and research at Northeast Region U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) facilities to support restoration of sustainable coregonid populations in Lake Ontario
Are there differences in larval and juvenile gene expression between hatchery and wild coregonids?
Management agencies are investigating best practices for coregonid (C. artedi and C. hoyi) culture, stocking, and broodstock development. However, before large scale production can begin, decisions about the sources of broodstock, culture practices, and stocking rates...
Quantifying a potential mechanism between ice cover and cisco recruitment success: what role does light play in cisco embryonic development and larval survival?
Over the past several decades, Coregonus recruitment has dwindled to unprecedented levels for unknown reasons. Coregonus species are fall spawners whose embryos incubate under ice throughout the winter and hatch in spring. Recent changes in ice cover coupled with poor...