Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat News
The Newsletter of the Great Lakes
Aquatic Habitat Network and Fund
The Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat News is the newsletter of the Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat Network and Fund, published five times per year. The News is intended to provide a forum for the free exchange of ideas among citizens and organizations working to protect aquatic habitats in the Great Lakes Basin.
Volume 15, Number 4 • Winter 2007
Lake Huron
Basin Update - U.S. Side
Lake Huron Fishery Changes And How You Can Help:
Q & A with Tammy J. Newcomb, Ph.D., Lake Huron Basin Coordinator
for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources
By Chris Grubb, National Wildlife Federation
What is unique about Lake Huron
compared with the other Great Lakes?
Lake Huron is less productive than Lake
Michigan, and until recently, more
productive than Lake Superior.
Productivity is a measure of the lakes
nutrient availability that can transfer up
a food web and eventually be measured
as fish biomass in the lake. Recent
findings show that Lake Huron is now
more similar to Lake Superior than Lake
Michigan in its overall productivity for
zooplankton -the tiny organisms used as food by small fish.
How has Lake Huron’s food web historically been characterized?
Formerly, Lake Huron had a thriving “pelagic” food web,meaning
an open water environment supporting species like bloater chub,
lake herring and exotic or invasive species like alewife or smelt.
These pelagic fish in turn provided forage for pelagic predators
such as lake trout or Chinook salmon. In the mid 1980s, the fish
forage base was dominated by smelt. Later in the 1990s, the
forage base became dominated by alewife.
How has that been changing and why?
The pelagic environment has seemingly become less productive
and through a series of events, both alewife and smelt
populations became suppressed. There are few alewife found in
Lake Huron presently. In spite of the absence of these species,
other forage fish do not appear to be filling the vacant niche,leading
some experts to believe that a “benthic shunt” is
occurring as a result of invasive species such as zebramussels and
round gobies in the nearshore areas. This “benthic shunt”
hypothesis suggests that nutrients that were formerly available
offshore are now entrained (kept) in the nearshore environment.
What do you consider the biggest threats
to the Lake Huron ecosystem?
Zebra mussels, quagga mussels, round gobies, bloody red shrimp,
spiny water flea, asian carp and all the other invasive species that
aren’t here yet, but their introduction remains a risk. The Great
Lakes research and management communities collectively spend
millions of dollars a year investing inmonitoring and collection of
Great Lakes data over time to understand the ecosystem for
better management and policy decision making. However, this
investment is marginalized by new species continuing to enter
the environment and shift dynamics in areas such as the food
web. In essence, our knowledge becomes “reset” each time an
invasive species becomes a significant component in the food
web of the Great Lakes.
Is there anything positive occurring in Lake Huron?
Yes, there are some tremendous things that are occurring. In the
absence of alewives, we are seeing record numbers of sport fish
such as young walleye and perch. Lake trout are showing
evidence of natural reproduction throughout the lake. Lake
Herring, a native forage species that also provides fishing
opportunity, also appears to be expanding in its range and
abundance throughout Lake Huron.
How long have you been working on Lake Huron and what keeps
you coming to work everyday?
I’ve worked as the Lake Huron Basin Coordinator for five years and
it’s a tremendous privilege to coordinate fisheries management
for the World’s fourth largest lake. The Great Lakes Fishery
management and aquatic scientific community is an exceptional
group of professionals dedicated to protecting and rehabilitating
our amazing freshwater resources. The synergy of working with
these professionals combined with the stakeholders who are
passionate about this resource is what keeps me coming to work
every day.
What can people do to protect Lake Huron?
I strongly encourage citizens to make known to their
state/province and federal legislators what is important to them
about the Great Lakes and what they value. Individual letters are
meaningful to our elected representatives. Furthermore, support
efforts for habitat rehabilitation and aquatic ecosystem management.
In Michigan, fisheries managers are supported 100% by
license dollars and yet our primary role is protecting the habitat
upon which the aquatic community depends. Even if you don’t
fish, the purchase of a fishing license is one way to contribute
financially to the effort. Finally, figure out which watershed you
live in and how you can contribute to efforts to rehabilitate or
protect water quality or habitat in your area. All inland efforts
eventually benefit the Great Lakes!
Contact Tammy Newcomb,
Michigan Department of Natural Resources for more info:
(517) 373-3960 or newcombt@michigan.gov
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