Moving from Traditional Fish Stock Assessments to Place-Based Approaches: Evaluating the Critical Fish-Coastal Habitat Linkage in Lake Michigan

Great Lakes fisheries assessments have often focused on population dynamics with less of a focus on linking critical habitats with fish stocks. Viewing aquatic communities from the “place-based” standpoint can add new insight and aid in the protection of critical habitats.  We conducted a community assessment of the aquatic biota in the Fisherman’s Island area in the northeastern area of Lake Michigan using various approaches.  First, we compiled historical survey and commercial data from multiple data sources.  Next, we deployed various gears to sample multiple species and life stages during the summer (June and July) in 2011.  The sampling included sampling with neuston nets for larval fish, beach seining for invertebrates and small fish, use of minnow traps for small fish and crayfish, and setting fyke and multi-mesh gill nets for larger-sized fish.  In addition to sampling aquatic organisms, habitat was assessed using historical charts along with two recent efforts to provide more detailed bathymetric and substrate maps.  Digital photos and video was also used to ground truth the mapping results.  By applying this approach, we found that Fisherman’s Island rocks…literally.