This project is designed to maintain and improve fisheries resources managed by the michigan department of natural resources - fisheries division s (division)

The U.S. Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service awarded the Michigan Department of Natural Resources $2,630,324 under the Sport Fish Restoration program (CFDA 15.605) on October 1, 2025, for a performance period extending through September 30, 2026. This formula grant supports fisheries management and conservation activities designed to maintain and enhance sport fish populations in Michigan's Great Lakes and inland waters. The primary deliverables include collection, analysis, and synthesis of fisheries and aquatic habitat data through scientifically sound surveys and assessments to inform evidence-based management strategies. The project will generate stock assessment tools, catch-at-age models, and management recommendations for key species including Great Lakes salmonids, walleye, northern pike, muskellunge, and inland trout, leveraging existing and emerging technologies such as coded wire tagging, acoustic telemetry, and hydroacoustics to analyze fish behavior, population dynamics, and predator-prey relationships.

The DNR will partner with Michigan State University as a sub-awardee to support research and technical services under two subaward amendments issued in December 2025 and January 2026. The comprehensive approach integrates real-time data collection on species abundance and habitat conditions to inform hatchery supplementation needs and support adaptive fisheries management across both Great Lakes tributaries and inland water systems. The project emphasizes evaluation of emerging assessment techniques for fish population monitoring and habitat evaluation, positioning Michigan's fisheries management to adopt contemporary methodologies that enhance the robustness of population assessments and environmental response analyses to management actions.

This project will inform management strategies by collecting, summarizing, and analyzing data from a range of studies, surveys, and assessments that address key fisheries management needs. The project will provide timely fisheries, aquatic community, and habitat data using surveys and assessments that are designed using sound scientific principles to support natural resource decision making. Key information will be developed using syntheses of data to support new management directions, such as information to support reviews of existing and development of new statewide plans and regulation packages for great lakes salmonids, walleye, northern pike, muskellunge, and inland trout. Great lakes fisheries will be better managed by the acquisition of timely data on predator-prey abundances to support real-time analyses of fisheries management strategies along with informing the needs for hatchery supplementation. These data and other information will be used to develop new stock assessment tools and improve existing catch-at-age models. These tools help support fisheries managers in determining appropriate strategies to effectively manage both great lakes and inland waters. These models and other management tools will be supported by that application of new technologies and methodologies to elucidate new and more robust inferences on population and environmental responses to management actions. Existing technologies that will be used include coded wire and acoustic tag data to analyze fish behavior and demographics in great lakes and tributary waters. To ensure the best available information is used, this project will evaluate new assessment techniques for evaluating fish populations and habitat, such as hydroacoustics in all waters, or for new or emerging fisheries including lake sturgeon and lake herring. To protect these valuable sport fisheries, we will identify and provide support to evaluate new, emerging threats to michigans aquatic resources including evaluating methods to estimate potential invasion routes for invasive carp and supporting or conducting susceptibility assessments for variance in the prevailing weather. Finally to protect our fisheries management investments, we will design and conduct research projects to support aquatic habitat conservation and rehabilitation, including designing and maintaining comprehensive long-term monitoring programs to: (1) help inform how habitat stressors may threaten or change sport fisheries (2) quantify cumulative impacts of human disturbances in lakes, rivers, and streams (3) model and evaluate the effects of water withdrawal on fish and aquatic communities (4) examine landscape factors and their effects on fish populations and (5) understand angler behavior, attitudes, and use of michigans fisheries. The end result of this varied program of fisheries information acquisition and analysis is that michigan s sport fisheries will continue to generate between $2-$5 billion in annual economic activity to our state and maintain our public trust resources at a high level.