Great Lakes “Coaster” Brook Trout Restoration

COOPERATIVE CONSERVATION CASE STUDY

Location: Midwest/Northern

Project Summary: Collaboration among federal and state governments, tribes, and private organizations to help bring the Coaster brook trout back to Lake Superior.

Staff transferring coaster brook trout eggs from a hatchery into a prepared spawning bed in Whittlesey Creek.

Resource Challenge

Lake Superior’s “Coaster”—or “Coastal”—trout is a variant of the more common brook trout that has adapted to conditions in the lake. While not a listed species, it is distinct from the brook trout in size and color. Coasters are beautiful, colorful fish that live at least some of their life in the Great Lakes. Named because their favorite habitat is Lake Superior’s rocky shore line, coasters were favorites among 19th Century anglers. Populations declined because of over-fishing, habitat loss, human activities such as logging and mining, and the introduction of non-native fish that compete with the trout for food, shelter, and habitat.

Challenges to Coaster restoration include habitat loss, poor watershed conditions, extirpated populations of the trout due to over-fishing, and an altered landscape.

Examples of Key Partners

USDI Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), USDA Forest Service, USDI National Park Service, U.S. Geological Survey, Minnesota Sea Grant, Michigan Technological University, Northern Michigan University, University of Minnesota, Lakehead University, Trout Unlimited, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan Departments of Natural Resources; Ottawa and Superior National Forests, Chippewa Tribes (Red Cliff Tribe, Bad River Tribe, Grand Portage Tribe, and Keweenaw Bay Indian Community), Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, and others.

Results and Accomplishments

Partners are charting a shared direction for future research, management, and restoration. Efforts are underway lake-wide to improve scientific understanding and rehabilitation strategies.

Specific accomplishments include:

• Brood stock is being developed at FWS hatcheries to produce fish for restocking.

• Stocking has greatly benefited the population at Isle Royale.

• Stocked Coasters are reproducing at Grand Portage.

• Habitat restoration is underway in the Salmon Trout River and other tributaries.

• States bordering Lake Superior have restricted recreational harvest of Coasters.

• All partners are engaged in outreach, a major focus of Trout Unlimited and Minnesota Sea Grant.

• Tribes are engaged in both habitat restoration and stocking.

• Major partners are developing rehabilitation plans.

• Research is ongoing in partnership with U.S. Geological Survey and universities.

• Coaster brook trout habitat is restored and protected at the recently established Whittlesey Creek National Wildlife Refuge.

Innovation/Highlight

Multiple agencies and organizations working across boundaries on a landscape scale to restore the lake-adapted “Coaster” brook trout.

Project Contact

Laura Hewitt
Watershed Program Director
Trout Unlimited

,
608-250-3534
LHewitt@tu.org

Website: http://www.fws.gov/midwest/ashland/brook/index.html

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