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DNR and Native American tribes aiming to reintroduce Arctic grayling to Michigan rivers

By Nick Lentz

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    DETROIT (WWJ) — An effort is underway to reintroduce Arctic grayling to Michigan rivers following an 89-year hiatus.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians are leading the effort to reintroduce self-sustaining populations of the fish to state rivers.

On May 12, the agency will give 400,000 Arctic grayling eggs to the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians and the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians. The Native American tribes will then place the eggs at locations along the Manistee River, Maple River and Boardman-Ottaway River.

The agency says the eggs will be placed in streamside incubators that allow for the fish to develop a natural connection with the waters.

Arctic grayling, also referred to as grayling, have historically been found in streams in the state’s Lower Peninsula, including in the Manistee and Au Sable rivers.

In 1936, however, the fish went extinct in Michigan due to habitat loss, unregulated logging and pressures from fish species not native to the streams.

The agency and the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians introduced this ongoing initiative in 2016.

Previous attempts to establish a self-sustaining wild grayling population have failed, but the DNR says new technologies and methods have improved the chances of successful reintroduction.

Three Michigan lakes were stocked with grayling in November 2003, but the stocking was not intended to establish a self-sustaining population.

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