Fish tale: Chances of Arctic grayling return to Michigan ‘Very good’

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After disappearing from Michigan streams nearly a century ago, Arctic grayling could be returning. Image: Michigan Department of Natural Resources

By Lucas Day

Arctic grayling, a fish known for its sail-like dorsal fin and that died out in Michigan in the 1930s, could be making a comeback in Michigan.

“The chances are very good,” said Todd Grischke, assistant chief of the fisheries division in the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. “We are probably three to five years out from actually having Arctic grayling back in the stream.”

In 2016 the state partnered with the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians to bring back the grayling, which once prospered in Michigan rivers until overfishing, habitat changes tied to overlogging and competition from non-native species killed them off.

Now, there are over 45 partners in the project to make up the Michigan Arctic Grayling Initiative, Grischke said.

Overlogging ruined the grayling’s habitat. The practice killed vegetation and ruined stream beds, Grischke said.

“The habitat today is very different from what it was back in the 1800s when Arctic grayling were so numerous you could almost walk over them,” he said.

Grayling thrive in clean, cold streams with a good mix of gravel and a healthy water flow. There is a search for tributaries, branches off main rivers, that would make a good place to reintroduce grayling, Grischke said.

“We still believe that the habitat in some areas is appropriate and will work for Arctic grayling, we just need to find those [areas],” Grischke said.

Overfishing is another reason grayling died out in Michigan. They were a popular sport fish and their meat was sent to restaurants in Detroit, Chicago, Philadelphia and other cities, said Nate Winkler a biologist with Conservation Resource Alliance, a nonprofit environmental organization in Michigan’s northwest Lower Peninsula.

When habitat destruction and overfishing made catching grayling more difficult, Michigan brought in other fish to catch commercially, Winkler said.

“As grayling were being exterminated anglers wanted to be able to fish for something, so that’s when the brown trout especially were being stocked in rivers farther south,” Winkler said. Brook trout and steelhead were also stocked.

Today competition from steelhead, brook and brown trout, as well as coho salmon that were introduced in the 1960s present obstacles to grayling.

Since grayling are docile, they likely wouldn’t be able to coexist with aggressive steelhead or coho salmon. This means they’d likely have to be reintroduced in tributaries upstream from a barrier keeping these species out, Winkler said.

Testing is underway to see how grayling interact with other Michigan fish species and how densely a stream could be populated and allow grayling to coexist, Grischke said.

Michigan unsuccessfully tried to reintroduce grayling in the 1980s. But Montana officials recently brought the fish back to some of their streams and provided a successful model, Grischke said.

Montana used incubators, which are containers such as five-gallon buckets, and put them in streams designated for grayling. The incubators contain fertilized eggs and gravel. The eggs are buried in the gravel, similar to how they are when produced naturally. The incubators use pipes to allow the stream to pass through so when the grayling hatch, they are immediately introduced to their natural habitat.

That appears to work better than raising them in a farm and trying to have them adapt to a new environment, Winkler said.

The grayling fry will eventually swim through the outflow of the incubator and into the stream, the process is highlighted in a report from Michigan Tech University.

“I think that more than anything, (the incubators are) going to help this effort because nothing of that magnitude was tried in the first attempt,” Winkler said.

The Little River Band of Ottawa Indians are testing the method on the Manistee River with rainbow trout eggs, Grischke said.

The Michigan Arctic Grayling Initiative only received $25,000 in state funding, Grischke said.

That isn’t nearly enough to reintroduce the species, so the group set a goal to raise $1.2 million. Through grants, contributions from foundations and philanthropists,

individual donations, merchandise sales and other means, around $700,000 has been raised so far, he said.

The Iron Fish Distillery in Thompsonville, Michigan has introduced an Arctic grayling themed bottles of whiskey and bourbon. A portion of sales go to the initiative, Grischke said.

Aside from the value of having native species in streams, the cultural importance of grayling drives the effort to reintroduce it, Grischke said.

“There’s a town named after the fish, the city of Grayling,” Grischke said. “The fish holds a lot of importance historically.”

Regardless of the success of reintroduction, Winkler said he hopes people have learned the harm that they can cause.

“It’s a cautionary tale that’s quite expensive and quite sad,” he said.

2 thoughts on “Fish tale: Chances of Arctic grayling return to Michigan ‘Very good’

  1. I also think this would be a wonderful benefit for our state. I spent many years fishing in Grayling

  2. I’m so pleased that a group of dedicated people are interested in reintroducing a species that was so important to Michigan’s history. Times have changed and the environment has changed but if there is a chance to salvage some of the things that made Michigan great, I am all in favor.

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