Quick viewing(Text Mode)

Lake Erie Surprises

Lake Erie Surprises

Surprisesby Linda Steiner

Lake Erie is full of surprises–literally. The Great is a great lake for meeting rare, strange, and unusual fish. It’s like no other waterway in .

photo-Linda Steiner

Roger Kenyon’s “beat,” as a Pennsyl- that he’s become shockproof at Lake vania Fish and Boat Commission Erie’s unending changes, or at least has fisheries biologist, is like no other fish- learned to adapt himself and roll with eries biologist’s in the state. For nearly what the waves turn up. 30 years, Kenyon has been involved in No wonder tales and ballads have fisheries management in the Pennsyl- come out of the Great . They are vania section of . Yet, those all giants–even “little” Lake Erie, just years could never be boring–Lake Erie 250 long and 50 miles wide. is always something new and different. When seen for the first time by those to “Lake Erie drives you nuts. When whom a lake is a sedate pond with all you’re used to fishery stability in other shores visible, the astonish waters, this lake is all over the map,” and humble. Like the others, Lake Erie says Kenyon. “Any freshwater ecologist is a landscape of water, sky, and expec- or limnologist should come here for a tation. What’s going to happen next? real education. Pull one brick, one spe- Pennsylvania’s Lake Erie frontage is cies out of the ecosystem link, and the mostly on what is known as the Central whole thing changes.” Basin. Biologists consider the lake to Roger Kenyon In his career, Kenyon has seen a lot have three distinct sections, though of “bricks” added and removed from from above it looks like just one huge the Lake Erie fish community. He’s pool. The Western Basin is the shallow- almost constantly had to revise his un- est, with some extended only 20 derstanding of how that inland feet deep, which makes it the most freshwater sea’s web of aquatic life and prone to problems. The East- energy responds. Guess you could say ern Basin is the coldest and deepest,

www.fish.state.pa.us Pennsylvania Angler & Boater 41 Lake Surprises

photo-Rob Criswell plunging in some spots more than 200 and in 1955. For more infor- “dug” the lake, and changed the direc- feet. Pennsylvania’s Presque Isle penin- mation on the commission, visit tion of rivers flowing into and out of sula and its counterpart across the lake www.glfc.org. the region. Fish and other aquatic spe- in Canada, Long Point, seem to divide On average, Lake Erie is the shallow- cies that already lived in those rivers the Central from the Eastern Basin. est of all the Great Lakes; off Erie were added to the new Great Lake; it Lake Erie has shoreline in , County, Pennsylvania it averages only was probably a strange mix from the , Pennsylvania, , and the 70 feet deep. But that’s enough depth start. Later, intentional and accidental province of . Management and to give it both coolwater and alien introductions (still going on to- monitoring involve five political enti- warmwater fishery types with unusual day) made it an even more chaotic ties. Their diverse views on what the variety, Kenyon says. assortment. Yet, the whole, in some lake’s fisheries and their use echo the Why so many different fish? One way, works. As Kenyon says, there’s complexity of the lake’s fisheries. reason is that the lake is the child of just so much energy present in the lake. Helping to coordinate it all is the Great monumental ice movements across Which species are passing it around, as Lakes Fishery Commission, established northwestern Pennsylvania terrain, tens their populations rise and fall, appear by treaty between the of thousands of years ago. The and disappear, is always changing.

Spotted gar. Like , gars are primitive, prehistoric relicts. As a leftover survival technique from the ancient days, they can use their swim bladder as a spare breathing apparatus, a sort of “lung” that can be put into action when oxygen levels are low in the water around them. Then they come to the surface and gulp air from above.

photo-Rob Criswell

42 Pennsylvania Angler & Boater www.fish.state.pa.us Lake sturgeon Gar “Some of these primitive fishes may Some Lake Erie water life is insanely Lake Erie even has its own version of also have been in other large lake sys- abundant; others are vanishingly rare. an “alligator”–the gar. The spotted tems, but died out,” says Kenyon. “In Take the lake’s version of the Loch and longnose gar are not reptiles, but something the size of the Great Lakes, Ness Monster. At least, says Kenyon, they are heavily scaled, predatory fish they could find quiet backwaters where that’s what some observers report with a long “beak” full of big teeth. they were not subjected to the same when they see the wave-wake of a huge This gave them the nickname “gar stresses as their populations elsewhere.” body moving just below the surface. pike,” but they’re not related to Actually, they’ve been close to a Penn- northerns or muskellunge, either. sylvania endangered species, the lake Surprised anglers sometimes catch gar, When the last glacier pulled back sturgeon. In summer, when the lake is especially in weedy . from Pennsylvania some 15,000 years quiet, a small group of sturgeons may The fish also enter Lake Erie tributary ago, it left a legacy of new stream direc- rise to the surface and feed on midges, streams to spawn, where basking tions, some totally reversed from their tiny insects. Because these fish can 4-footers startle onlookers. former course. The Upper Allegheny, grow 6 feet long, some people think Like sturgeons, gars are primitive, Tionesta and Beaver-Monongahela they’ve seen a sea monster, says prehistoric relicts. As a leftover sur- drainages had flowed north into what Kenyon. vival technique from the ancient days, scientists call the “Erian River.” After Lake sturgeons, as a species, are 350 they can use their swim bladder as a the glacier, these major watersheds fed million years old, a prehistoric relict, spare breathing apparatus, a sort of the . Today, the Pennsylva- which alone makes them an oddity. “lung” that can be put into action nia tributary streams to Lake Erie are They were once quite numerous in when oxygen levels are low in the water all short. The divide between the Lake Lake Erie, says Kenyon, and commer- around them. Then they come to the Erie and Ohio River drainages is only cial fishermen used to throw the fish surface and gulp air from above. about 20 miles from the big lake.

Sea lamprey

photo-Rob Criswell away if they got caught in the nets. The glacier allowed some species to Sturgeons were also killed for their Bowfin push south, while others went north, caviar and their air bladder, which The bowfin is another heavily “ar- says Kenyon. The Iowa darter, another was used to make isinglass, a semi- mored,” primitive-looking fish. It has special protection candidate, is a relict transparent gelatin that clarifies hard, bony head plates, a wavy back fin of glacial times that is found in jellies and glue. that stretches all the way to its tail, and Presque Isle Bay. The salmonids (trout The lake sturgeon became imper- lots of sharp teeth. Sometimes called relatives) that are native to Lake Erie iled primarily by degradation of its “dogfish,” the bowfin is a candidate are also remnants from the Ice Age. spawning sites, says Kenyon, when species for special protection in Penn- Needing a coldwater habitat, “this is as silt covered the gravel where the fish’s sylvania. Although bowfins are seldom far south as the whitefish and lake eggs were laid. Right now there is encountered elsewhere in the state, trout got,” explains Kenyon. renewed interest in restoring the stur- they’re fairly common in Erie’s Presque The original were extir- geon, he says. A large effort is being Isle Bay, says Kenyon. Bowfins are a pated in (gone from) Lake Erie by the made to locate the sturgeon’s pre- leftover from the Devonian period of 1930s, the victims of a combination of ferred spawning grounds, find out prehistory and are one of a kind. The commercial fishing, degradation of where they live, and get an overall family Amiidae is represented by a spawning reefs, and parasitism by the estimate on just how well or how single species. accidentally introduced . poorly they are doing. For all their Why are these prehistoric fish still Lake trout are currently under a resto- size, lake sturgeon feed on tiny inver- living in Lake Erie, in the age of com- ration program in Lake Erie, which is tebrates–human swimmers are safe. puters and space flight? revised every few years to keep current

www.fish.state.pa.us Pennsylvania Angler & Boater 43 with lake conditions and prospects for over-fertilization, mostly phosphate bringing the fish back, says Kenyon. loading, and pollution. “The control of phosphate loading under the Great Sea lamprey, whitefish Lakes Water Quality Act,” says Kenyon, Sea lampreys still remain a limita- “was one of the greatest success sto- tion on populations of salmonids in ries.” But then in came the zebra Lake Erie, says Kenyon. They slipped Surprises mussel, a true stowaway, and a spoiler into the Great Lakes via the Surprises as far as fisheries are concerned. Zebra that bypassed , ear- mussels feed by filtering algae and ani- lier in the century. The long, eel-like Rainbow , mal from the water. They fish feed by attaching themselves by Kenyon has seen boom and bust in appear to have made Lake Erie almost their raspy, “suction-cup” mouth to many Lake Erie species, both originals too clean and clear, by locking up nu- the flanks of smooth-sided fish. Then and newcomers. The , a trients for themselves. they ingest body fluids from the host. slim, schooling fish that is an impor- The zebra mussel hitchhiked from The most effective control for the salt- tant food source to larger game fish, Europe, in ballast water of ocean-cross- water invader has been spraying Great had been very abundant but is con- ing . The ballast water was Lakes tributary streams that have lam- tinuing a downward trend. “I expect it customarily dumped into the Great prey larvae with TFM, a selective will hit a point and stay at a lower Lakes, as the ships adjusted their chemical lampricide. “We have met level,” says Kenyon. This is “Ecology weight, along with whatever was still the goal in control,” says Kenyon, of 101,” he says, when an introduced spe- alive in the tanks after the voyage just five lamprey wounds for 100 fish cies, like smelt, explodes in numbers across the Atlantic. Today, says surveyed. shortly after it’s added to a new envi- Kenyon, incoming ships are supposed Whitefish, another trout-relative ronment, and then declines to exchange their imported ballast wa- native to Lake Erie, are a big commer- dramatically to reach a stable point. ter for local water, before getting into cial fishing item in the Western Basin, Rainbow smelt were a deliberate re- the Great Lakes. This should cut down and some netting of the excellent-eat- lease into the Great Lakes; by 1935 the on more alien species invading North ing fish is still done in the fish was recorded in Lake Erie. America’s inland freshwaters from the Pennsylvania section. The silvery fish Smelt depend heavily on plankton, Caspian Sea, Scotland, and elsewhere reached their peak numbers several microscopic plants and that in Europe. years ago and are currently declining, fuel the engine of life in the Great Too small to be a candidate for “at least in our waters,” he says. Lakes. Declining nutrient levels in the marinara sauce and pasta, the zebra Whitefish populations tend to yo-yo, lake and competition for plankton mussel grows to about two inches a phenomenon more easily watched from zebra mussels may be contribut- long. Zebra mussels attach themselves than explained, he adds. ing to the smelt decline, says Kenyon. to just about anything–shoreline rocks, In the 1970s, Lake Erie was pro- water pipe intakes and outflows, boats, nounced “dead,” done in by and even other bivalves. Adult females

Lake trout. The original lake trout were extirpated in (gone from) Lake Erie by the 1930s, the victims of a combination of commercial fishing, degradation of spawning reefs, and parasitism by the accidentally introduced sea lamprey. Lake trout are currently under a restoration program in Lake Erie, which is revised every few years to keep current with lake conditions and prospects for bringing the fish back.

photo-Rob Criswell

44 Pennsylvania Angler & Boater www.fish.state.pa.us Emerald shiner

mussel, gizzard shad numbers are de- clining, he says. The emerald shiner, a slim, silvery minnow with a green side-stripe, rounds out the major food-base fishes of the lake. Emerald shiners are not as common as they used to be, in the 1950s and 1960s, says Kenyon, when photo-Rob Criswell tributary streams would turn black can produce up to 40,000 eggs a year. them is that they eat zebra mussels, when the little baitfish made their Once they’re in a waterway, they blan- though not enough to make a dent in spawning runs. ket it quickly. Their cousin, the the clam’s overpopulation. Gobies are Once in a while, a few freshwater , has colonized the in turn eaten by game fish. eels make it into the lake from the St. deeper waters of Lake Erie. The Lawrence River, and catchable floun- quagga, too, was accidentally released , gizzard shad der have appeared, brought in with in ballast water from Europe. Lake Erie also has alewives. An ale- that infamous ballast water from wife isn’t someone’s spouse who serves ocean-going vessels. Or the nibble Spiny water flea, round goby good beer, but a small herring that is might be from a sheephead, or fresh- Ballast water from Europe also important forage for game fish. Ale- water drum, a white bass, , brought “B.C.,” whose full name is wives are another to or freshwater cod. Freshwater cod are Bythotrephes cederstroemi, otherwise the Great Lakes, becoming abundant also called burbot and ling. “The bur- called the spiny water flea. This “flea” or scarce in cycles. Alewives do not bot is an ugly, deepwater carnivore,” is not an insect at all, but a tiny (less tolerate cold water well, and seek out Kenyon says, and a Pennsylvania than a half-inch long) crustacean with warmer temperatures. From time to threatened species. The burbot is do- a long, sharp, barbed tail spine. It ap- time, schools get caught by frigid water ing very well in Lake Erie, but not peared in in 1984, but and die, sometimes washing onto elsewhere in the state. soon exploded throughout the Great beaches by the thousands. Lakes. B.C. would be a popular zoop- A herring like the alewife, the giz- Salmon lankton food source for fish, except zard shad also experiences population One of the biggest predators in Lake that its claw-like shape can choke booms and busts in Lake Erie. Kenyon Erie is unlikely to be seen nowadays, smaller predators. says he’s seen winterkills washed although it was the “star fish” several The round goby is the latest ballast ashore, to the complaints of beach us- decades ago. were water stowaway to emigrate to Lake ers and residents. The fish had to be brought in as part of a Pacific-salmon Erie. The goby was first noticed in hauled away by the truckload, like stocking program throughout the 1990, but now thrives throughout the snowdrifts. Another pelagic (mid-wa- Great Lakes, along with their relatives, Great Lakes. It is an aggressive, vora- ter, free-swimming) foodfish, the the coho, the pink salmon (rarely seen cious feeder that can forage in total gizzard shad is named for its muscular, now), and others. Chinook aren’t darkness. Gobies grow six to eight gizzard-like stomach. With the reduc- stocked into the lake from Pennsylva- inches long and take baited hooks. tion in lake productivity, post-zebra nia hatcheries anymore, says Kenyon. The problem with this new arrival is that the goby takes over prime spawn- Burbot ing areas that are traditionally used by native species and competes with na- tive fish for habitat. They are already causing problems for other bottom- dwelling Great Lakes native fish like mottled sculpin, logperch, and darters. Gobies can also withstand degraded water conditions. Gobies are extremely abundant in Pennsylvania’s Lake Erie waters, says Kenyon. The only good news about photo-Rob Criswell

www.fish.state.pa.us Pennsylvania Angler & Boater 45 The hook-and-line state record stands As far as blue pike turning up again in at nearly 30 pounds, which would seem Canada’s backcountry waters, Kenyon is to make it an attractive sport fish. skeptical. Many fish show color muta- But chinook, or king, salmon “were tions and pigment variations. “I get never able to contend with the Lake Erie shown blue this and blue that all the environment,” says Kenyon, and they time,” he says. Kenyon says some of the are declining in all the Great Lakes. interest in bringing back the native blue Like the chinook, the coho, or silver, pike may just be fond wishful thinking salmon population had to be main- for “that wonderful period of time.” tained by artificial hatchery production. But Lake Erie has changed so much in Although these salmon teasingly return species makeup that introducing a blue to tributary streams to spawn (seldom, pike from other waters, even if it’s ge- if ever, successfully in the Great Lakes netically similar or identical to the region), the adults die after they’ve fin- originals, could bring unforeseen re- ished their reproductive chores. Cohos sults. Behavior and other aspects of the gave anglers a better return than fish’s life history may be unpredictable, chinooks, but the decreasing availability plus blue pike were known to interbreed of eggs and the steelhead’s increasing with , now arguably the lake’s popularity with Lake Erie anglers will most popular game fish. Kenyon says probably see the super- “this (talk of reintroduction) is coming ceding the coho as the prime salmonid too quickly and too fast, and people’s game fish in the lake. photo-Linda Steiner expectations are too high.” Steelheads are rainbow trout that PA angler Mike Detore with a steelhead he Is there a crystal ball that can predict migrate to a large lake or the ocean, caught in Elk Creek, Erie County. how Lake Erie will change next? Sev- and enter inflowing rivers to spawn. Steelheads are rainbow trout that migrate eral alien species (blame ships’ ballast Unlike cohos and chinooks, steelheads to the lake and enter inflowing rivers to water again) aren’t quite into don’t necessarily die after releasing spawn. Steelheads don’t necessarily die Pennsylvania’s Great Lake waters, but their eggs or milt. Instead, they may after spawning. Instead, they may return will probably get here eventually. The return to the big water and grow larger, to the big water and grow larger, so ruffe is a small, spiny perch that is ca- so they’re even more attractive to an- they’re even more attractive to anglers on pable of explosive population growth, glers on their next spawning run. their next spawning run. which showed up first in Lake Supe- Originally Westerners, steelhead rain- rior. Since 1986, it’s gotten only as far bow trout have long been hatchery east as Lake Huron, says Kenyon. An- propagated. Kenyon says steelheads Wildlife Service (USFWS) in whether other alien spiny water flea, Cercopagis are more flexible in habitat than cohos the blue pike (actually a blue , pengoi, is also ballooning in numbers and have a wider diet, eating not only but called “pike” because of it teeth) elsewhere in the Great Lakes, but fish, but also invertebrates. was a separate species or subspecies or hasn’t been seen in Lake Erie yet. For a change, are a pur- color variation of the walleye. The How do fisheries biologists, like posely introduced European species. USFWS is also looking into reports of Kenyon, know what’s in the big lake? “They do well in Lake Erie,” says blue pike caught in northern Canadian “We use a set of sampling procedures Kenyon, “but not as well as we’d like.” lakes, supposedly remnants from ear- and standardized stations we visit that The Fish and Boat Commission hasn’t lier transplants from Lake Erie. DNA are consistent from year to year,” he made an effort with the anadromous testing on tissue samples (kept for de- says. “Any change in abundance or (sea-running) form of the brown trout, cades and recently rediscovered) from catch rate for any species can be de- he says, because the steelhead has re- actual blue pike helped determine re- tected.” Changes in populations, good sponded so well. Brown trout have cently that the blue pike was indeed a or poor “year classes” (fish born in the done better in cooler, deeper neighbor- distinct species. Slightly smaller than same reproductive season), and fish ing . Brook trout, North the “yellow” walleye, looking almost movements can be assessed by the American natives, were original to the transparent, or so Kenyon says observ- trawling and gill netting samples, and Great Lakes drainages, but any caught ers have told him, the blue pike was a also by looking at the sportfishing and in Lake Erie today are probably wander- popular table fish. Blue pike were commercial fishing harvests. Many ers from stream stockings. fished for heavily for sport and com- sampling techniques are standardized mercial sale, but Kenyon says their among the state and provincial wildlife Blue pike disappearance was caused more by the agencies bordering the lake, which aids The blue pike was a homegrown spe- smelt “overwhelming” the blue pike, in accuracy, says Kenyon. But no mat- cies, too, unique to Lake Erie, but it eating their fry and competing for ter how scientific fisheries management seems to have disappeared entirely. Or spawning grounds. gets, Lake Erie always surprises. has it? Kenyon says there has been re- newed interest by the U.S. Fish and

46 Pennsylvania Angler & Boater www.fish.state.pa.us

Top View