Research Vessel Sturgeon leaving Charlevoix

USGS Great Lakes Science Center R/V Sturgeon heading home to Cheboygan Vessel Base (Cheboygan, Michigan) after a spring gillnet survey in the Northern Refuge of Lake Michigan. This survey is completed annually and has been ongoing since 2001. Data collected from this survey is critical for assessing progress toward restoring a self-sustaining population of lake trout to the Northern Refuge of Lake Michigan.  In addition, the survey provides valuable information to fishery managers on the relative abundance, growth, population mortality, sea lamprey wounding rates, age-specific diet, natural recruitment, and general physical health of lake trout and burbot, the two native top predators, in the Northern Refuge and neighboring waters of Lake Michigan.  Photo credit: Patty Dieter, USGS.