Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: Wisconsin Fishery
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

Whitefish support one of the largest commercial fisheries in the Great Lakes but are experiencing population declines in a number of areas. Our project will use genomic tools to help define stock boundaries. We will also develop a low cost genetic screen to assign whitefish caught in mixed-stock fisheries to their stock of origin. This project is a collaboration between a number of state and tribal agencies including the Wisconsin and Michigan DNRs and the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians and Sioux Tribe. This research will be used to design new management strategies with the goal of protecting each stock of whitefish and preserving the important portfolio of population diversity in this species.