Special report: The alewife question

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ffthmb1Alewives are a Great Lakes invasive fish that baffle native fish reproduction but give imported Pacific salmon — the target of a profitable fishery — something to eat. What’s a Great Lakes fishery manager to do?

Alewives were once nuisance non-native species in the Great Lakes. Now they prop up the lakes' hugely profitable salmon fishery. Photo: David JudeSept. 2, 2009
Alewives: Should Great Lakes managers kill ‘em or keep ‘em?
Fishery managers have made little progress in restoring lake trout, the Great Lakes’ dominant predator until the species collapsed in the 1940s and 1950s.

Pacific salmon are an economic draw for the Great Lakes. But they thrive on alewives, an invasive species tough on native fish. Image: Great Lakes Fishery Commission.Sept. 3, 2009
Alewives: The trouble they cause and the salmon that love them
Pacific salmon, the big money species in the multi-billion dollar Great Lakes fishery, need a feast of alewives to thrive.

Pacific salmon are an economic draw for the Great Lakes. But they thrive on alewives, an invasive species tough on native fish. Image: Great Lakes Fishery Commission.Sept. 4, 2009
Great Lakes fish in the balance; biologists have little control
Managing invasive alewives in the Great Lakes is like walking a tightrope.

Poll: What is the best way to manage Great Lakes alewives? Vote

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