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Lake whitefish is an important commercial fishery in Lake Erie and is culturally and economically important to local First Nations. It is also an important food source for other fishes and an important indicator of ecosystem health. Although Lake Erie’s population has declined in recent years due to poor survival during their first year of life, fishery biologists have shown that the Detroit River is an important source for young lake whitefish. These young Detroit River whitefish add resilience to Lake Erie stocks, despite suffering from severe human-caused disturbances.
Based on research and monitoring, fishery biologists and managers concluded that reproduction of lake whitefish, lake sturgeon, and other rock-loving spawners in the 2000s was likely more limited by habitat than environmental quality. Then in 2006, lake whitefish spawning was documented in the Detroit River for the first time since 1916 further strengthening the hypothesis that if you build whitefish habitat in the river, they will come. In response, ten fish spawning reefs made of limestone rock were constructed in the Detroit River over the last 20 years.
The most recent estimates of total annual export of larval lake whitefish from the Detroit River to western Lake Erie ranged from 29 million in 2010 to 84 million in 2011. Given the widespread whitefish spawning in the Detroit River, large numbers of larvae produced and entering western Lake Erie, and continued system-wide water quality and aquatic habitat improvements, the Detroit River provides valuable habitat with added resilience — the capacity to respond to disturbance or perturbation by resisting damage and subsequently recovering — to Lake Erie fisheries.
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