BRIDGETON TOWNSHIP, Mich. — A species of fish with a tall, iridescent top fin once swam in the Muskegon River and in other cool waterways in Michigan.
Nearly a century after its disappearance, the Arctic grayling will return to the state when the Michigan DNR and its tribal partners release its eggs into a trio of streams in the Lower Peninsula.
"An iconic fish for Michigan," said Jay Wesley, Lake Michigan basin coordinator for the Fisheries Division of the Michigan DNR. "We're hoping our plan works."
In the 1930s, the Arctic grayling was extirpated in Michigan due to habitat loss caused by the lumber industry and predation from brown trout, a nonnative species.
Renowned as a fighter on the line, anglers from across the country would travel to Michigan to feel its pull, which also likely contributed to its demise, Wesley says.
"They were popular enough that we have a town called Grayling," he said, referencing the county seat of Crawford County.
In 2016, the Michigan DNR began meeting with tribal leaders to discuss how to reintroduce the fish to Michigan.
They hatched a plan to fly in Arctic grayling eggs from the Chena River in Alaska, raising the juvenile fish in isolation and testing them for disease before introducing them to the Marquette State Fish Hatchery.
The department returned to Alaska twice to pick up additional year classes of fish as to prevent inbreeding among the brood stock, a population of animals maintained in captivity for future reintroduction to the wild.
"A long wait," Wesley said, referring to the years that needed to pass before the Arctic grayling were mature enough to breed and lay eggs.
During this time, the DNR searched for a future freshwater home in the wild. Due to a surplus in the brood stock, they also stocked three Michigan lakes with the fish, though this did not (and was not indented to) establish a self-sustaining population.
"Really hope they take this time, because there's been a lot of time and partnerships and investment into this," Wesley said.
On Monday, May 12 at the Oden State Fish Hatchery, the department will present 400,000 grayling eggs to the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians and the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians.
These tribal partners will then release the eggs into the Manistee River, the Maple River and the Boardman-Ottaway River.
Read the Michigan DNR's official announcement here.
Then, Mother Nature will decide whether to welcome back the fish whose sail-like fins have long been missing from Michigan.
"It's going to be an experimental process," Wesley said. "We're going to adapt. We’re going to learn from our mistakes and hopefully get better and see some results."