Salmon in the Great Lakes: Part 2, Open Water

The Great Lakes have changed dramatically over the past two centuries. Clear-cut logging, unregulated pollution, habitat destruction and overfishing that began in the 1800s gave way to conservation and sustainable harvest by the mid-1900s. Invasive species created new challenges and gave rise to two management programs that attempted to make the most of the damaged lakes: sea lamprey control, and the stocking of non-native salmon and trout.

This series will relate Great Lakes ecology to the experiences of people who fish for salmon on the Great Lakes, watch them during the fall spawning run in Michigan rivers, and even raise them from egg to smolt in classrooms around the state.

The second video in this series focuses on the salmon's life in Great Lakes waters and illustrates some of the tools and techniques that anglers use to find and catch salmon in vast expanses of open water.

Aerial imagery provided by Marge Beaver of Photography Plus:

http://www.photography-plus.com/