# Lake sturgeon survey to occur on Burt Lake in September and early October



## Steve (Jan 15, 2000)

Contact: Marty Holtgren, 231-547-1276, Ext. 222, or Elyse Walter, 517-284-5839
Agency: Natural Resources
Sept. 14, 2015








The Department of Natural Resources will be assisting the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians (LTBB) and other tribal collaborators with a lake sturgeon survey on Burt Lake beginning Monday, Sept. 14 and continuing through Friday, Oct. 2.

“Since 2003, the DNR and LTBB have stocked more than 6,000 lake sturgeon into Burt Lake, and this will be the second time we have surveyed the population to evaluate the effectiveness of these stocking efforts,” said Marty Holtgren, fisheries biologist for the DNR’s Tribal Coordination Unit. “All lake sturgeon stocked in Burt Lake are tagged allowing us an opportunity to estimate growth rates, survival and population size."

The lake sturgeon protection and restoration effort in Burt, Mullett and Black lakes has seen significant assistance from many organized groups and individuals, all spending thousands of hours to do so. The results of this survey will provide better knowledge about how this protection and restoration effort is going and will help the DNR and other agencies understand how to proceed with management options of this lake sturgeon population.

For the survey, a maximum of six large-mesh gillnets will be fished at short intervals throughout each of the following days: Sept. 14-18, 22-24, 28-30 and Oct. 1-2. There will be no survey gear deployed at night, and nets will be pulled from the water by 6 p.m. each day. The gillnets will be fished at various locations spread throughout Burt Lake.

Each line is marked with two staff buoys. Each buoy consists of an orange float, a staff and flag held in place by a large anchor. The buoys on a single gillnet are approximately 365 yards apart. The DNR recommends anglers avoid fishing between the floats, since they could potentially snag their hooks on the survey gear. All lines are fished in depths of 15 feet of water or more, so the survey gear poses little threat to boat activity.

If you have questions about the survey, please contact Marty Holtgren at 231-547-1276 or [email protected].

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is committed to the conservation, protection, management, use and enjoyment of the state’s natural and cultural resources for current and future generations. For more information, go to www.michigan.gov/dnr.


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