Set for this month at the Michigan Maritime Museum in South Haven is a presentation on a major effort to restore lake sturgeon to the Big Manistee River.
Museum Education Director Ashley Deming tells us they’ll welcome Corey Jerome, a fisheries biologist with the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians Natural Resources Department. He’ll talk about the 20-year program to bring back the fish, which once thrived in the watershed.
“It’s a really unique program and a way of introducing these young sturgeon and rearing them in the local waters,” Deming said. “So, paying a lot of attention to fish biology and how the sturgeon spawn and return to spawning grounds and that kind of thing to have success. And they have had a lot of success.”
Deming says the sturgeon eventually do wind up in Lake Michigan, later returning to the river. Jerome will also explore the Little River Band’s history of gathering along the banks of the river each spring for sturgeon runs.
“One, it’s learning a lot about the fishery and the way that the Little River Band of Ottawa are trying to bring back sturgeon, but also the cultural importance of this particular animal to their people.”
“Manistee River Lake Sturgeon: 20 Years of Restoration” will be on September 17 at the Michigan Maritime Museum. Deming says it’s another installment in the museum’s year-long series, Whispers Across the Water, honoring the diverse history of the Great Lakes.
