Possible Fish Habitat Improvement Initiative

The Issue
With the population explosion of mussels and gobies, the Lake Charlevoix food chain has been changed forever. The mussels each filter many liters of water each day to feed on free floating food particles. These food particles, often living plants or animals called plankton, are the major food source of native fish fry. Perch and other game fish populations are suffering because of it. Alewife, the major food source for Salmon, have recently shown great reductions in both size and numbers in Lake Michigan. This reduction is being blamed on the lake of available food and the mussels are directly responsible for that. Gobies are also direct competitors of our native game fish and at this point the Gobies seem to be winning the battle. They are prolific reproducers and live in borrows in the bottom of the lake, better protecting them from predators. It has been recently reported by Perch fisherman in Sutton's Bay that eight out of ten fish caught were Gobies. What have we done to our lakes?

What Can We Do?
This new reality for Lake Charlevoix has lead LCA Board members to look into possible ways to "Nurture the Natives". We are looking for actions we can take to give the natives a better chance to out compete these foreign invaders. The fact that much of the main basin of the lake is devoid of cover, has lead us to consider a major habitat improvement project. Similar projects have been done in other lakes in Michigan and have had some success.

We Need You!
We are in the very beginning of the process of bringing this project to reality and part of what will be required for this to happen is to have the interest and support of the LCA membership. If you are interested in this project please let us know by sending an email to Dan Mishler at dan@lca-mi.org. One possibility is that the association will apply for a "block" permit for installing structure in the lake. In this scenario, there will be a time window chosen, specific plans for the structures drawn and distributed and groups organized for their installation. This format was used in another area lake. Lakefront owners and other stakeholders built and installed the structures in front of their access points.

Who Might Help Us?
One issue that is not yet understood completely relating to these fish structures is whether they only concentrate the fish or whether they actually favor the population of the fish over time. Perhaps a graduate student from a university would be interested in taking on that topic for a research project. This might even help our chances of making grants available to help offset the cost of the structures.

Again, please let us know if you are interested in and would support this project. Without the support of many, this project will most likely not happen.