Red Cliff Tribe Will Track Coaster Brook Trout In Lake Superior

A northern Wisconsin tribe is planning to research the movements of native fish in Lake Superior.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs gave the Red Cliff Tribal Fish Hatchery roughly $53,000 in Great Lakes Restoration Initiative money to track coaster brook trout. The cold-water fish decreased in number around the lake, following overfishing and habitat loss due to wide-scale logging in the 1800s. Hatchery Manager Chase Meierotto said they’ll use sound-emitting, acoustic tags to research where they’re going.

“Two years ago, we put in over 100,000 of these little fish, and then we don’t really know what is happening to those fish after we release them,” he said. “So this tagging is hopefully going to give us an idea if they’re leaving or if they’re staying.”

Meierotto said they hope to use the information to guide fish management there. Red Cliff has stocked more than 1 million coaster brook trout since the mid-’90s.