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New cool-water complex boosts walleye and muskellunge production
A new cool-water fish production facility at Thompson State Fish Hatchery, which will support walleye and muskellunge stocking, is in the final stages of construction, and fish are already being reared there.
Walleye eggs were collected from Little Bay de Noc early this spring and were incubated and hatched in the new state-of-the-art hatchery. Muskellunge will be transferred from Wolf Lake Hatchery in Mattawan during August each year and reared at Thompson State Fish Hatchery in Manistique until November, when they will be stocked depending on need across the state.
“For nearly 150 years, the Fisheries Division has reared fish in facilities designed specifically for trout and salmon,” said DNR Fisheries Division Chief Jim Dexter. “This is our first completely separate cool-water facility, which is important for managing the risk of disease and improving our capability to deliver cool-water fish such as walleye
Mar 1, 2021
DNR photo
Michigan Department of Natural Resources fisheries staffers observe nearly transferred Arctic grayling at the Marquette State Fish Hatchery in Marquette County.
MARQUETTE In 2016, a proposed initiative intended to reintroduce Arctic grayling to select Michigan streams was announced. That idea immediately caught fire, and Michigan’s Arctic Grayling Initiative now counts over 40 member organizations among its supporters.
A close-up view of an Arctic grayling, held in the palm of a hand, is shown.
Before the northern Lower Peninsula was heavily lumbered in the mid- to late 1800s, Arctic grayling were the dominant salmonid (fish of the salmon family) species found in cold-water streams.