Lake Michigan: Ludington Regional Fishery Workshop
March 11, 2024 6:00PM - 9:00PM
Registration Deadline: March 8, 2024 - 12:00AM
West Shore Community College 3000 N. Stiles Rd., Scottville, MI 49454 or Zoom
Contact: Daniel O'Keefe
This year's Ludington Regional Fisheries Workshop is shaping up to be one to remember. In addition to annual updates on salmon and trout management and forage fish abundance, this year will feature two talks from Dr. Paris Collingsworth with IL-IN Sea Grant. His talks will focus on the Cooperative Science and Monitoring Initiative (CSMI) effort to assess the Lake Michigan ecosystem.
The Ludington workshop will feature the latest CSMI results on quagga mussel densities, plankton levels, and nutrient loading, with comparison to long term trends. The last CSMI also provided an unprecedented in-depth look at larval fish production and factors that influence where and when larval alewife, perch, and other species can find conditions suitable for successful recruitment.
Dr. Ralph Tingley, Research Fishery Biologist at the USGS Great Lakes Science Center, will also provide preliminary information on the 2023 prey fish results from the bottom trawl and hydroacoustic surveys, with some discussion of experimental high-tech assessment methods and other ongoing efforts to improve long-term monitoring of prey fish populations. While alewife trends are always of interest and of great relevance to salmon and trout fisheries, one of the surprises in recent years has been strong bloater recruitment.
Jay Wesley, Lake Michigan Basin Coordinator for Michigan DNR, will round out the program with discussion of salmon population status and management issues including stocking levels and changes to regulations. As always, there will also be time for Q&A.
The format for the Ludington workshop is a bit different this year. Instead of offering an all-day winter Saturday workshop with lunch provided, we have changed the format to align more closely with other MI Sea Grant Regional Fisheries Workshops that are offered on weekday evenings in Spring.
This year, there will be no charge for attendance, but free registration is required by March 8. This will be an in-person workshop, but registrants will also receive a Zoom link by email on the morning of the workshop. We are encouraging people to attend in person if they can, but will also offer the virtual option in case travel is not possible for some. Last year's Ludington workshop was switched to all-virtual at the last minute due to a winter storm and low registration for the in-person workshop.
Doors will open at 6:00 p.m. and there will be some time for networking before the program begins. Our new Michigan Sea Grant Director, Dr. Silvia Newell, will be available to meet and answer questions during this time.
Agenda:
6:30 p.m. Introductions and Sea Grant Update - Dan O'Keefe, MI Sea Grant 6:50 p.m. Lake Michigan Lower Food Web Changes - Paris Collingsworth, IL-IN Sea Grant 7:10 p.m. New Insights on Larval Fish Production - Paris Collingsworth, IL-IN Sea Grant 7:40 p.m. USGS Prey Fish Monitoring - Ralph Tingley, USGS 8:20 p.m. DNR Management Updates - Jay Wesley, MDNR9 p.m. Adjourn
Registration for this event has closed.
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