Why Michigan Needs to Maintain Strict Limits in Coastal Waters of the Upper Peninsula.
As I’ve publicized before, I’ve joined an adventurous group
of gentlemen to go to Isle Royale National Park and fish for and document the endangered Coaster brook trout.
Except that they
don’t exist.
Let me clarify. I’ve
always heard and read about Coasters.
They are spoken of here in Michigan in hushed tones. Coasters are lake dwelling brook trout said
to exist only in Lake Superior. They
grow to mythic proportions and ascend tributaries each fall to spawn. While most are probably about twenty inches
long and three pounds, they can grow to thirty inches long and ten pounds. . In
times past they were said to be numerous, and sportsman flocked to UP river
mouths to catch giant brook trout. I
have always been told that they are an endangered subspecies of brook trout native
only to Lake Superior
This isn’t true.
I mentioned in a post some time back that we were going to
Isle Royale to fish for the endangered Coaster brook trout and raise awareness
for their conservation and one of my more
astute readers asked the question “How do we know they’re an endangered species
and not just brook trout?”
I had always taken the answer to that question for granted-
this is Michigan, those are our fish. As
a budding amateur journalist I was intrigued.
After all, I’ve caught 18” brook trout through the ice on Lake Michigan
near Petoskey. DNR biologist Neal Godby once referred to the big brook trout they net incidentally in Burt Lake while
surveying walleye as “Coasters”. And the
USFWS people I had run into at the lamprey weir on the Little Carp river in the
Straights of Mackinac had told me of the large brook trout they catch
incidentally in their traps there. Could
these also be coasters?
A couple of people who I had mentioned this to knowingly
suggested that I don’t know what a real coaster is. Perhaps they’re right. It could be that they don’t know either.
So I contacted DNR biologist Neal Godby and asked him what
information the DNR had and the ream of material he sent back was
astonishing. Long story short- there are
no Coasters. To be clear- Coasters occur
as a phenomenon, but they are not a genetic subspecies or type. Even more amazing was to read that all of the
northern Great Lakes brook trout are genetically identical, even the Nipigon
fish. While Eastern brook trout had been
stocked at one point in some streams in Michigan, solid evidence shows that
all of Michigan’s cold streams connected to the Great Lakes were colonized by
brook trout after the grayling were extirpated by fishing and logging
activity. We still have our native fish. And yes, that would make those extremely rare
large Lake Michigan or Huron brook trout “Coasters”.
 |
want to catch fish like this? Don't keep ten of his babies. |
The fun thing about being a sportsman in Michigan is all the
intrigue and peril. I knew that if I
only shared the DNR’s research and chosen studies I would be ridiculed. “Don’t you know the DNR is all
politics?” “They just don’t want another
Endangered Species to manage, and so they cherry picked their studies to shoot
down the designation”.
Those arguments could seem to have some validity. After all, the information shared with me
stated that the US Fish and Wildlife Service had applied for ESA protection for
Coasters. But what stood out to me was
that they had lost.
So I contacted the Fish and Wildlife Service office in
Ashland Wisconsin to find out what they had to say. I had a really nice conversation with
biologist Henry Quinlan. It turns out
that their ESA protection request was procedural. They were petitioned by private groups to
have Coasters get ESA protection. They
are required by law to jump through the hoops when petitioned and so they did.
Except that USFWS research agrees with that cited by the DNR- there is no
evidence that Coasters exist as a genetic strain. None.
To the contrary, the evidence suggests that Lake Superior is the perfect
home for brook trout to reach their full genetic potential. Put them in some cold but miserable brook
beset by otters and mink and they might live to three years and ten
inches. Put them in Lake Superior with
lots of deep water to escape to and tons of chow and they can live for several
more years and become the sumos of their kind.
When you add in the overwhelming genetic evidence the answer is clear to
me- Coasters are brook trout in their perfect environment. And this leaves me even more hopeful- as long
as we have brook trout, there will always be Coasters.
So let me be clear.
Coasters do not exist, not as a genetic strain. Coasters do exist as a
phenomenon of Lake Superior, the ultimate brook trout pond. This distinction is important, as it shifts the focus (and resources) from trying to identify and save a genetic strain that doesn't exist, to preserving habitat and promoting regulations that will foster strong Coaster numbers once again.
Michigan has other giant brook trout producers, and they are
no Lake Superior. I would die to catch
one of these fish. I’m not at liberty to
name these lakes, but they do exist.
Fish in the 3-5 lb. range are possible.
Book a trip with
Brad Petzke and then take a walk with him. He’ll show you some fish. The fact is, if you toss brook trout into any
large body of water with ideal temperatures and a good forage base, they
can start to resemble the brown trout you are used to. They get big, mean, fat, jowly, and oh so
catchable. The point being, give them
food and space and they will grow. If
anything, Coasterism is a testament to the genetic plasticity of brook trout.
I think that there has been a rather nostalgic idea here of
what Coasters are- our salmon. That they
live that lifestyle, being borne in natal streams, smolting and heading to Lake
Superior to feed and grow, then returning to the gravel they were born in to
complete the cycle. None of the scientific evidence supports this. The biggest frustration in the Hurricane
river study was that once those fish dispersed, they almost never came
back. Ever. Coasters don’t smolt, seem to completely lack
a homing instinct, and many spawn on off-shore gravel.
So instead of trying to preserve our piscatorial Sasquatch
here’s what I propose. Let’s raise the
bar here. For instance, certain groups
would like to see the catch limit in Michigan’s UP raised to ten brook trout,
from the current limit of five. This is
absurd. To be fair, proposed creel limit changes would not affect streams that
already have tighter restrictions, but what about the dozens of creeks and
non-restricted rivers? If you want Coasters you had better not be
cleaning your streams out of seed fish. Michigan
has set the minimum size limit on all coastal waters of Lake Superior to
20 inches with a limit of one fish and this is a good start. Canada has enacted similar rules- one fish
per day that must be at least 22.5 inches.
When I was up in Nipigon last year they spoke of catching coasters as
routine. Henry Quinlan informs me this
was not the case 15 years ago. Some
locals fought these rules, but in the end good science prevailed, and now they
are catching fish again.
Michigan is a great state, with a proud heritage and a
tremendous fishery. It is my dream to
stand on a beach in the UP and catch a Coaster some day. I guess my argument here is less about
whether Coasters exist than not wanting to see us take a step backward by
enacting the proposed ten fish limit in the UP.
The days of “living off the land” are over. They never existed, which is why fish stocks
got so depleted in the first place, and why fish and game laws were
enacted. I enjoy eating trout, but I’ll
never stock my freezer with them again.
I enjoy them fresh as a delicacy, not as something that is going to get
me through the winter. If you support the ten fish limit don't complain about the lack of Coasters.
Enough said. I’m
going fishing.