Coaster Brook Trout Movement in the Apostle Islands of Lake Superior

APBKT

June 2019 - November 2019

Coaster Brook Trout (hereafter, Coasters) are a lake-dwelling migratory form of Brook Trout that were once common in the nearshore waters of Lake Superior. Coasters can obtain large size (e.g., can exceed 20 inches in length) and supported a popular recreational fishery in the mid-1800s. By the late 1800s, Coaster populations were in decline due to overharvest and in-stream habitat degradation. Today, a few remnant stocks of Coasters remain in Lake Superior and agencies and environmental groups have developed a variety of rehabilitation strategies with the goal to reestablish widely distributed, self-sustaining populations throughout their original habitats. The Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa have raised and stocked Coasters in Lake Superior near Red Cliff, WI since 1995 and continue to do so today. Understanding movement patterns and predation is important to evaluate the myriad of available stocking strategies (e.g., size, location, and time of stocking) to improve the success of the stocking program.

• Determine the movement patterns of Coasters stocked in Lake Superior near Red Cliff, WI using two different stocking strategies.
• Determine the predation rates of Coasters stocked in Lake Superior near Red Cliff, WI using two different stocking strategies.
• Determine the size-specific predation rates of Coasters stocked in Lake Superior near Red Cliff, WI.

• The results of this study will be used to evaluate the present and future stocking strategies used by the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa to improve the success of the stocking program.

• Ian Harding (Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa) - ian.harding@redcliff-nsn.gov

• Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa
• United States Fish and Wildlife Service

• This project was funded by the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission and Great Lakes Restoration Initiative funding awarded by the BIA