PRODUCTION
NFH, Iron River NFH, and Marquette State
Retired Broodstock
On November 16th the last of the retired
broodstock from Sullivan Creek NFH was
delivered to Maceday Lake in Waterford,
MI. Two truck hauled 300 Seneca Lake
Wild broodstock, the fish were from the
2002 year class and averaged about 7 lbs
and 26 inches.
Photo courtesy of The Oakland Free Press
Sullivan Creek Ships Eggs
Sullivan Creek NFH ships eyed lake trout
eggs to other federal, state, tribal, and
educational facilities every November and
December; this year Sullivan Creek will be
shipping over 5.2 million eggs in total.
Most of the eyed eggs are going to Jordan River
Fish Hatchery (MDNR) for the purpose of lake
trout restoration of the Great Lakes. Sullivan
Creek NFH is one of only three lake trout
brood fish stations in the USFWS for the entire
country. The whole egg process begins with
spawning season, which usually starts by the
middle of September and runs until the middle
of November each year. The adult lake trout are
anesthetized so the eggs and milt can be
collected and mixed together for fertilization.
This allows the staff to handle the adults
without harming them, and the fish will come
out of the anesthetic and “wake up” in about
twenty minutes.
Once the eggs are fertilized, disinfected with
iodine and water harden, or pull enough water
inside their shells for the eggs to become
“hard”, they are measured and counted into
vertical stack incubators. The eggs will slowly
develop inside the incubators for one to two
months depending on how cold the water
temperatures are. They will become “eyed
eggs”, where you can see the little fish eyes thru
the outer shell of the eggs. At this point, the Seneca Lake Eggs Arrive at Pendills
eggs are “shocked” or bounced fairly hard to December 8th about 204,500 eyed Seneca
get the “bad” eggs, ones that didn’t fertilize, Lake Wild eggs were transferred from
to turn opaque white when the yolk is broken Sullivan Creek NFH to Pendills Creek NFH.
inside the egg. This process does not harm
the good eggs.
The next step is to run all the eyed eggs
through mechanical egg pickers which have a
light sensitive photo-eye. The pickers shoot a
ray of light through each egg, and if the light
goes through the egg, it is a good egg and
goes in one bucket. If the light cannot go
through the egg, it is a bad egg and goes into
a different bucket. We run all our eggs
through two mechanical pickers, and hand
Sullivan’s Final Brood Stocking Numbers
pick them with tweezers or suction bulbs at
Sullivan Creek NFH stocks its excess and
least once. The good eyed eggs are again
retired lake trout into land-locked inland
measured and put back in their incubators
lakes as designated by the Michigan
until shipments can be set up.
Department of Natural Resources (MDNR).
Eyed eggs are carefully packed into
Every year, Sullivan Creek must stock adult
Styrofoam coolers and either shipped via
and immature lake trout broods to decrease
FedEx, UPS, or transferred between facilities
the overall number of fish being held on the
by hatchery staff. The little fish inside the
eggs are looking at you the entire time, 5.2
million sets of eyes.
-Crystal LeGault-Anderson
facility. These fish provide excellent
recreational angling opportunities to
Michigan residents. This fall broods were
stocked into five different locations scattered
in both the upper and lower peninsulas of
Michigan. Here are the facts: 3,302 lake
trout stocked; two small distribution trucks
used; 4,444 miles driven; and 10 truckloads
of lake trout.
-Crystal LeGault-Anderson
CONSTRUCTION
Traveling Screen
In July of 2010, construction started on a
traveling screen system that will allow for
leaves, wood debris and most aquatic life to
be removed before reaching the filtration
building. Due to this construction the
hatchery ran on unfiltered creek water that
was heavily laden with organic debris for
about two months. Most of the debris was
captured in the head boxes of the raceways,
however a lot of smaller particles made it
into the raceways themselves. Debris was
netted out by the wheel barrow load daily.
Construction of the building and water bay
were finished in December, however the
screen has yet to be installed. With the new
building finished it allowed the water
filtration building to be turned back on the
December 7th . Installation of the actual
screen is set to take place in January.
MEETINGS & TRAINING
Assistant Project Leader, Crystal LeGault-
Anderson, attended a Leadership Challenge
Workshop in Fort Snelling, MN from
November 2nd to the 4th.
FRIENDS OF PENDILLS
Friends Of Pendills Christmas Party
December 11th the Friends of Pendills
Group held their annual Christmas party.
The event was a success with food, games
and Christmas gift exchanges.
Have A Safe And Happy Holidays