A small, silvery herring that entered the Great Lakes through the Welland Canal. By the 1960s, alewives had exploded to comprise over 90% of the fish biomass in Lake Michigan and were washing up on beaches in massive die-offs measured in tens of thousands of tons. The ecological crisis prompted MDNR to introduce Pacific salmon in 1966 specifically to eat them. Salmon planting worked -- and created the Great Lakes sport fishery Michigan now enjoys.
| Lake | County | Population | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Charlevoix Lake
17,260 acres
|
Charlevoix | Invasive forage base for salmon and lake trout | |
|
Indian Lake
8,689 acres
|
Schoolcraft | Invasive forage base for salmon and lake trout | |
|
Lake Gogebic
13,380 acres
|
Gogebic | Invasive forage base for salmon and lake trout | |
|
Lake Michigamme
4,149 acres
|
Marquette | Invasive forage base for salmon and lake trout | |
|
Lake St. Clair
260,000 acres
|
Macomb | Invasive forage base for salmon and lake trout | |
|
Mullett Lake
16,630 acres
|
Cheboygan | Invasive forage base for salmon and lake trout | |
|
Muskegon Lake
4,150 acres
|
Muskegon | Invasive forage base for salmon and lake trout | |
|
Muskegon Lake
4,150 acres
|
Muskegon | Invasive forage base for salmon and lake trout |
No stocking records are on file for Alewife.
This is common for several reasons: this species may reproduce naturally and not require stocking (e.g. Largemouth Bass, Northern Pike), it may be managed under a different program not tracked here, or records may predate our database. For the most current data, check the Michigan DNR Stocking Database directly.