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Fish Habitat Enhancement Strategies for the Huron-Erie Corridor
Template #70
The Huron-Erie Corridor (HEC) is the connecting channel between Lake Huron and Lake Erie and includes the St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, and the Detroit River. It contains the largest freshwater delta in the world; supports sixty-five species of fish, 16 of which are classified as threatened or endangered by state, federal, and provincial authorities; and is part of the Great Lakes flyway for migratory birds. The Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge and the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge are located in the HEC, and the Detroit River is designated an International Heritage River System.
The HEC also includes one of the busiest navigation centers in the United States and is an international trade route with Canada and overseas markets supporting over $80 billion in trade per year. More than five million people live within an hour’s drive of the HEC and it is a major source of drinking water for Michigan, Ohio, and Ontario. It is also the region’s most economically significant recreational fishery and is important in sustaining the Lake Erie fishery. Historically, the Huron-Erie Corridor (HEC) supported a highly productive fishery, providing spawning and nursery habitat for 80 sport and commercial fish species, including lake herring, lake trout, lake sturgeon, lake whitefish, walleye, and yellow perch. Over the last century, fish productivity in the HEC has been greatly reduced through loss of coastal wetlands, filling and armoring shorelines, and channelization and dredging of the limestone bedrock that was spawning habitat for numerous fish species to construct the shipping channels. These gravel and rock substrates provided spawning and nursery habitat for lake whitefish, walleye, lake sturgeon, and numerous other native fishes. Loss of these spawning and nursery habitats reduced native fish populations. Particularly damaging was the Livingstone Channel project that took place in the early 1900’s. This 19.3 km shipping channel was cut through the limestone bedrock sill at the mouth of the Detroit River with a minimum width and depth of 91 m and 8.5 m, respectively. The Livingstone Channel project greatly altered the river’s hydrology, destroyed fish spawning grounds, and correlated in time with disappearance of lake whitefish spawning runs from the Detroit River (Manny et al. 1988). In addition, both the St. Clair River and Detroit River are bi-national Areas of Concern (AOC). The International Joint Commission (IJC) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are committed to remediation of Beneficial Use Impairments in these two AOCs, specifically loss of fish and wildlife habitat and degradation of fish and wildlife populations.
Huron-Erie Corridor Initiative: In 2004, the USGS Great Lakes Science Center and partners conceived the Huron-Erie Corridor Initiative (HECI) to develop science-based adaptive management strategies to help restore high fishery productivity in the corridor and develop delisting criteria for fish habitat loss BUIs. The Steering Committee for the HEC Initiative was formed in 2004 to determine research strategies and direction, establish collaborations, and pursue funding opportunities using a consensus-based approach. The group meets annually to re-assess HEC research needs, identify emerging issues, and determine next steps in aquatic habitat restoration. Over 20 steering committee members guide the Initiative from a wide variety of agencies and organizations (http://huron-erie.org/partners.html). It has attracted $1.5M in 27 grant awards to USGS and its partners since 1993. Objectives of the HECI include developing a blueprint for restoring fish productivity by creation of connected fish spawning and nursery habitat; comparing historic and present fishery productivity and fish habitat; developing a GIS data base of historic maps for the HEC; addressing tribal interests in fishery resources restoration; and assessing and ranking threats to restoration of fishery productivity in the HEC. Scientists are working to address impediments to restoring ecological resiliency and function in the Corridor by developing scientific strategies intended to restore productivity of historic fish spawning grounds by measuring increases in fish egg deposition and larval transport rates, create connected fish spawning & nursery habitat, measure effects of aquatic invasive species on native aquatic species, protect and restore coastal wetlands, and improve beach health and water quality.
Study Area Description: The St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, and Detroit River connect Lake Huron with Lake Erie and form what is commonly referred to as the Huron-Erie Corridor. The St. Clair River extends 62 km from its headwaters at the outlet of Lake Huron near Port Huron, Michigan, to an extensive delta area. Throughout its length, water levels (water-surface elevations) decrease about 1.5 m as it discharges an average of 5,153 m3/s. Local tributaries to the St. Clair River include the Black River at Port Huron, Michigan, the Pine River at St. Clair, Michigan, and the Belle River at Marine City, Michigan. Lake St. Clair receives water from the St. Clair River, and lesser amounts from the Clinton River in Michigan and the Thames and Sydenham Rivers in Ontario, Canada. Lake St. Clair is bisected by navigational channel that is 7.6 m deep and 34 m wide. This lake has a surface area of 1,114 km2, and an average depth of 3.4 m. The Detroit River receives water from Lake St. Clair and lesser amounts from the Rouge River as it flows 52 km to Lake Erie. Water levels fall about 1 m within the Detroit River, with an average discharge of about 5,300 m3/s (Larson 1981).
We seek to restore fish spawning and nursery habitats in the HEC and St. Clair and Detroit River AOCs, and enhance sustainable, native fish populations. To this end, our objectives include:
- Use science-driven, adaptive management to measure physical and biological habitat parameters within the HEC (following methods in Manny et al. 2007 and Roseman et al. 2007); identify locations where natural spawning and/or nursery habitat exists; and identify locations where habitat improvement projects would attract and enhance native fish populations.
- Integrate geospatial and hydrodynamic models to estimate natural habitat attributes (geomorphology, flow regimes, depths, substrate characteristics, and bank slope; Holtschlag and Koschik, 2002, 2004) as baseline parameters for fish habitat restoration; This part of the project is building on an ongoing EPA funded project to meet AOC delisting goals by developing a “blueprint” for fish habitat restoration in the HEC.
- Use information gleaned from objectives 1 and 2 to develop ecological process models that couple physical and biological fish habitat parameters and to identify sites where productive fish habitat can be restored.
- Based on results of objectives 1-3, select candidate sites for construction of fish habitat (spawning reefs and nursery areas) to expand, improve, and restore habitats that produce native fishes;
- Use accepted scientific methods to monitor the suitability of restored and constructed fish habitats to native fish populations.
Understanding how physical and biological attributes influence the productivity of fish habitats is an underlying principle of fisheries research. Within the HEC, a vast portion of fish habitat has been destroyed by human development (e.g. industry, channelization, infilling of wetlands, etc.), reducing the abundance of native fish populations. Our research to assess the productivity of current habitat for fish seeks to identify remaining functional habitat fragments as well as areas where habitat restoration would produce self-sustaining populations of native fishes. The USGS has a long history of successfully conducting fisheries research in the HEC and making information collected from this research available in useful formats to stakeholders and partners. The sampling methods developed to assess fish spawning and nursery habitats in the HEC have been applied by other scientists around the world for similar purposes. Data and information derived from previous research conducted by USGS GLSC in the Detroit River resulted in the construction to two fish spawning reefs that are used by at least 14 species of native fish species, including economically important walleye and the State- and Provincially-threatened lake sturgeon. The work proposed herein builds upon earlier research by expanding the spatial scope to include the St. Clair River and Lake St. Clair. Scientists involved in this HEC research are already assessing how habitat assessment and restoration techniques developed in the HEC can be applied in other Great Lakes connecting channels, such as the St. Marys and Niagara rivers, and the Welland Canal.
Scientists from USGS GLSC will develop and lead fisheries assessment research in the HEC during this study. USGS GLSC will serve as the fiduciary for this project and will receive over 80% of funds for project management, data collection and analysis, and reporting. Assistance from the USFWS Alpena Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office has been provided in previous studies and will again be contracted for by intergovernmental agreement. USFWS AFWCO will receive about 7.5% of project funds during the first year. Dr. A. Scott McNaught at Central Michigan University (CMU) is an expert in zooplankton and larval fish ecology and will coadvise one master’s level graduate student with Dr. Roseman. CMU will receive about 3% of project funds to support a graduate student. Dr. Jennifer Read at MI Sea Grant will provide guidance on science outreach activities and MI Sea Grant will receive about 4.5% of project funds to support outreach activities. Smaller contracted awards will be used for genetic analyses of native species (GLSC and SUNY Oswego genetics labs). This team of scientists will conduct field research, analyze data, write reports, and disseminate scientific results to the scientific community and public stakeholders through peer-reviewed scientific reports, news media, and oral presentations at numerous venues.
This work employs a multidisciplinary scientific approach to assess fish habitat in the HEC and remediate losses of fish habitat. To this end, we have aligned a multijurisdictional collaborative network of scientists and managers to develop restoration priorities and objectives. Our approach builds upon two previous successful fish habitat restoration projects completed recently in the HEC, the Belle Isle and Fighting Island spawning reefs in the Detroit River.
The primary objective of the project is to find optimal locations within each of the St. Clair and Detroit rivers that provide the best possible opportunities for successful spawning and movement of fry to related nursery habitat. Data on existing river habitat, current patterns, known nursery areas, fish movements, and spawning and early life history habitat requirements will be utilized in geospatially oriented habitat suitability models to aid in the selection process. Physical and biological information will be coupled to show where and how habitat restoration will produce the strongest benefits to native fishes at multiple locations in the St. Clair and Detroit Rivers.
Hypotheses: Spawning and nursery habitat are linked, and successful recruitment of target fish species is dependent on the ability of adult and larval fish to seek out and utilize these habitats. Sites best suited for fish spawning habitat restoration will be located such that they will be readily accessible by existing fish populations, and river flow patterns are such that the resulting larval fish will be carried to suitable nursery habitat.
GIS Analysis and Hydrologic Modeling: This project will link changes in the fluvial geomorphology and hydraulic regime to natural erosion, channelization and changes in fish habitat from 1870 to 2000 in the Huron-Erie Corridor (HEC). Historic and recent data sources will be used to develop Geographic Information System (GIS) coverages of the waterway referenced to modern horizontal and vertical datums. These coverages will provide the basis for understanding geomorphic changes in the HEC as well as the development of a set of two dimensional (2D) hydraulic models needed to describe local changes in water depths and flow velocities along the waterway during the study period. These changes in physical parameters along with information on fish habitat from current and historical data sources will be used to identify areas suitable for creation or restoration of fish habitats that will be sustained into the future by natural riverine forces. Quantity and quality of available habitats determines fish and wild life population capacity. This project addresses AOC delisting goals by mapping major physical components of fish habitat, identifying missing components, and examining connectivity to surrounding habitats.
Spawning Habitat Assessment for Site Selection:
Baseline Limnology
- The distribution of natural substrates present will be characterized as defined by side-scan sonar (SSS), underwater video (UTV), and surficial-sediment particle-size analysis. Hypothesis: River bank and adjacent channel is entirely featureless, hard-pan clay that will support spawning substrates. No evidence exists of existing natural spawning substrate / reefs that might be disturbed during the restoration / reef construction process. (Kennedy lead)
- Water current velocity will be assessed with the use of an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP). Hypothesis: Water current velocity at the restoration site is adequate (0.3-0.8 m/s) throughout the spawning season for all target fish species (generally during the spring and fall). Placement of spawning substrates will not significantly alter current patterns or lower current velocity in the immediate area to the point where sediment load patterns change. (Kennedy lead)
- Baseline sediment transport and accumulation rate will be determined physically with sediment trays and traps, and remotely using ADCP bottom tracking analysis. Hypothesis: Little sediment accumulates at the site or among the spawning substrates, owing to continuous high water current velocity. (Kennedy lead)
Baseline Biology
Prior to habitat restoration/construction efforts, baseline biological parameters will be measured which include the following:
- Adult fish use of the area immediately around the habitat restoration site and areas of suspected natural spawning sites will be determined by diver reconnaissance, DIDSON and underwater camera observations, set lines, and gill nets during ice-free months. Hypotheses: Few fish species frequent the habitat restoration sites during their spawning period prior to construction, but can generally be found in the area. Sturgeon and other species of interest (suckers, walleye, lake whitefish) use other nearby areas for spawning. (Boase, Kennedy, Manny lead)
- Fish egg deposition will be determined by placement and retrieval of furnace-filter egg traps and egg pumping at random locations in both the proposed habitat restoration site, and nearby potential natural spawning sites. Hypothesis: Eggs are deposited by lake sturgeon, walleye, suckers, lake whitefish and other fish species at the natural spawning sites, but not at the proposed habitat restoration site. (Kennedy and Manny lead)
Larval Fish Survey
- Larval fish movement in the area immediately around the habitat restoration site, upstream, downstream, near suspected natural spawning sites, and potential nearby nursery areas will be determined using towed larval plankton net sampling and overnight light trap sets. Hypotheses: Larval fish are moving through the system, but they are originating from places other than at the proposed habitat restoration site. The larval fish are not using the habitat restoration site for nursery/rearing habitat. (Roseman and McNaught lead)
Nursery Habitat Assessment:
Pre-Assessment and Monitoring of Nursery Habitat
Abiotic and biotic data will be collected at selected sites to determine current conditions within the nursery area prior to, during, and post-construction. Data also will be collected at a “control” nursery site (i.e., a similar nursery site not being restored) to verify that changes in the restored/enhanced area are in response to the restoration/enhancements rather than greater environmental changes. Each year, sampling will be conducted for a 2 week period in spring, summer and fall followed by data analysis. Assessment parameters will include the following:
- Wetland plant assemblages located within the nursery habitat will be identified and delineated using large-scale color infrared images or other remotely-sensed data and on-the-ground observations. Major vegetation assemblages identified in the images will be quantitatively sampled using quadrats or other standard methods and their boundaries will be entered into a GIS database. Areas dominated by invasive vegetation (i.e. Phragmites) will be identified and assessed for feasibility of removal. Hypothesis: Wetland plant assemblages in degraded nursery areas have low species richness.
- Quantitative sampling of fish communities within these habitats will be conducted using a combination of seining, fyke netting, electrofishing, and DIDSON observations to calculate the size and richness of the fish assemblages, characterize fish movement, and evaluate pre-restoration usage of the habitats. Hypotheses: Adult predators and juvenile fish are prevalent in nursery habitats. Species richness of fish assemblages is high. Diurnal movement of fish occurs within the nursery areas.
- Water quality (e.g., temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, specific conductivity, and turbidity) and water-surface elevations will be sampled in the nursery areas every thirty minutes using an automated multiparameter gage to determine short-term, seasonal, and annual changes in addition to characterizing pre- and post-restoration conditions. Near real-time data will be transmitted to a web server accessible to all project participants. Hypothesis: Large diurnal changes in temperature and dissolved oxygen occur with event-driven changes in specific conductivity and turbidity.
Value-added Analyses:
Chemical contaminants were once wide-spread in the HEC and were related to fish reproductive failure and developmental abnormalities. Mercury contamination remains a persistent threat and fish consumption advisories exist for many species in the HEC. We will send tissue samples of fish and sediment samples collected during spring to the U.S. Geological Survey Wisconsin Water Science Center in Middleton, Wisconsin for contaminant analysis with a focus on forms of mercury.
To assess cephalic and brain development, histological examinations will be conducted on representative fish larvae derived from eggs and larvae collected in the field and reared in the laboratory. Histological work will be conducted by USGS GLSC scientists with cooperation from the Department of Biology at Eastern Michigan University.
During the first year of the award, this project will:
- Acquire and make available comprehensive physical and biological information necessary to restore native fish spawning and nursery habitat in the HEC where reproductive habitat is a limiting factor in the restoration of native fish populations. Specifically, this research will develop databases and information on the spawning and nursery habitat use by native sport, commercial, prey fish, and state and federally listed species of concern so that scientists and resource managers can interpret relationships and interactions between physical habitat features (e.g. substrate, flow, water temperature) and biological life history of fishes.
- Identify and quantify fish spawning and nursery habitat use impairments that will be used for siting and constructing new fish spawning habitats in subsequent years of the study. To this end, we will use data on fish spawning patterns and preferences and ensuing larval fish distributions observed in the HEC during 2010 to determine habitat connectivity and guide fish habitat restoration efforts.
- Develop habitat maps and coupled bio-physical models that demonstrate fish spawning and nursery area habitat impairments (i.e. loss of substrate, flow changes, loss of connectivity) to be presented in formats useful and understandable by various audiences. For example, maps showing spawning areas depicting the flow and substrate characteristics that make these habitats attractive to fish will be of interest to fisheries managers as well as anglers. Also, GIS databases of physical and biological attributes of these areas will serve scientists, fisheries managers, and land-use planners in detecting changes in habitat and serve as a template to predict impacts of development on changes in river flow rates.
In addition to the new science conducted, this project will train students and scientists in fish early life history sampling, larval fish identification and ecology through a two-day workshop planned for early spring 2010. This workshop will be taught by Roseman and Kennedy at the USGS GLSC to teach research teams the sampling protocols for egg and larval fish sampling, sample processing, and egg and larval fish identification. This course will likely be offered to the public as a continuing education workshop sponsored with the MI Chapter of the American Fisheries Society. Also, the DOI MOCC small boat operator course will be offered at the GLSC to train new employees in small vessel and water safety.
At least one master’s level graduate student project is included in this project. A student from CMU (McNaught and Roseman advisors) will make use of existing data and collect at least two years of new information on fish use of nursery habitats in the HEC. This work will build upon a previous graduate project assessing nursery habitats in the Detroit River during 2006-087 involving a student from CMU (MacDonald 2008).
Outreach will inform the interested public about the value of habitat restoration, protection, and enhancement in the HEC. Outreach strategies include periodic updates of the project web site (http://huron-erie.org/) and the addition of web maps that show details from physical and biological modeling. Scientific information will be disseminated through peer-reviewed journal articles, fact sheets developed for lay audiences, and oral presentations at scientific conferences as well as to public stakeholder audiences. MI Sea Grant will receive about 5% of project funds to develop and coordinate outreach activities related to this project. Outreach activities will include at least one annual workshop where scientific results will be presented in a public forum. Outreach and education activity for local school-age children (gr. 4-8) and members of the interested public will inform about the importance of habitat restoration, protection and enhancement in the HEC. These activities will include up to five classroom-piloted, activity-oriented, state and federal standards-based lessons for Project FLOW, Michigan Sea Grant’s award-winning online curriculum (www.projectflow.us).
Holtschlag, D. J., and Koschik, J.A. 2002. A two-dimensional hydrodynamic model of the St. Clair-Detroit River Waterway in the Great Lakes Basin: U.S. Geological Survey Water Resources Investigations Report 01-4236, 63 p.
Holtschlag, D.J., and Koschik, J.A. 2004. Hydrodynamic simulation and particle-tracking techniques for identification of source areas to public-water intakes on the St. Clair-Detroit River Waterway in the Great Lakes Basin: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2004-5072, 29 p.
Larson, J. 1981. Essayons. A history of the Detroit District U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District, Detroit, MI. 215 pp.
MacDonald, E. 2008. Preliminary assessment of fish nursery habitat in the lower Detroit River. Master’s Thesis, Department of Biology, Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, MI.
Manny, B.A., T.A. Edsall, and E. Jaworski. 1988. The Detroit River, Michigan: An Ecological Profile. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Biological Report 85(7.17). 86 pp.
Roseman, E.F., G.W. Kennedy, J. Boase, B.A. Manny, T.N. Todd, and W. Stott. 2007. Evidence of lake whitefish spawning in the Detroit River: implications for habitat and population recovery. Journal of Great Lakes Research 33:397-406.
Point of Contact:
Edward F. Roseman
(734)214-7237
eroseman@usgs.gov
Investigators:
Jeffrey Allen
USGS Great Lakes Science Center,
Ann Arbor, MI 48105
James Boase
US Fish and Wildlife Service,
Alpena Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office,
Waterford Fisheries Station,
Waterford, MI
David Bennion
USGS Great Lakes Science Center,
Ann Arbor, MI 48105
Greg Kennedy
USGS Great Lakes Science Center,
Ann Arbor, MI 48105
Kurt Kowalski
USGS Great Lakes Science Center,
Ann Arbor, MI 48105
Bruce Manny
USGS Great Lakes Science Center,
Ann Arbor, MI 48105
A. Scott McNaught
Department of Biology,
Central Michigan University,
Mt. Pleasant, MI
Sandra Morrison
USGS Great Lakes Science Center,
Ann Arbor, MI 48105
Jennifer Read
Michigan Sea Grant Extension,
Ann Arbor, MI 48105
Edward F. Roseman
USGS Great Lakes Science Center,
Ann Arbor, MI 48105
