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Great Lakes Salmon Initiative

The GLSI held a member meeting in Ludington Fri night the night before the MSU Sea Grant Ludington Workshop on Saturday. We would like to thank everyone that attended, Board Members, members, manufacturers, even a couple from South End out of Indiana. Special thank-you goes out to Jay Wesley and Jory Jonas for attending to get first hand information and interaction with members. Another special thanks goes out to Jay for presenting the MDNR stocking plan for Michigan waters of Lake Michigan in 2018. The GLSI formed because of the intended cuts to Chinook in 2017 from 560,000 to 200,000 but more importantly to support anglers wishes for a balanced fishery. In Jays stocking plans for 2018 L. Michigan, Michigan stocks will be extremely close at 553,000 Chinook. Jay and his Basin team worked very hard to achieve this, proving that they are listening to the overwhelming majority of anglers wishes. Another thank you needs to go to Jim Dexter the Chief of Fisheries for approving the plan!

Board Member Ed Blissik has written a more in depth report on the 2 meetings which we will post this week for a more in depth look a tissues.

Cisco stocking has been a contentious subject over the last several months and Chuck Bronte of the USFWS and Jory Jonas of the Charlevoix fisheries Division MDNR both had a 30min presentation at the workshop. The discussion on Cisco needs to expand, fishermen need to understand both the positive and negative impacts and make an informed decision. The GLSI supports whitefish rehabilitation, not cisco! Following the Cisco presentation Chuck Bronte approached myself President of the GLSI and we were able to have a sidebar discussion. I am looking forward to having some phone conversations with him to discuss important concerns on fisheries management perspectives in the Great Lakes salmon/steelhead, whitefish, cisco, lamprey control, marking/tagging trailers, lake trout among others. Opening a dialogue is paramount to solving issues.