“On the white sand of the bottom

            Lay the monster Mishe-Nahma,

                           Lay the sturgeon, King of Fishes”

              Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - The Song of Hiawatha

Return of the King

Treatment for a one hour television documentary

Written by David McGowan

The river roars through a rocky canyon on its way to Lake Superior. A dark, almost prehistoric form slowly undulates in the clear current then darts against the white water with two powerful thrusts; the lake sturgeon has returned to spawn.

Further upstream, the roar of the white water is muffled. Refracted sunlight dances over the stones on the riverbed. The shadow of a sturgeon passes over the rocks. A large male courts a female, both rolling to and fro as they swim upstream. Suddenly, the male dives to the bottom of the river, twists and thrusts up to the surface. The enormous fish breeches the roiling water and then splashes back into the river.

Sturgeon expert, Dr. Randall Jones, stands on the top of the canyon overlooking the river. First providing a brief outline of how the Great Lakes native fishery evolved after the retreat of the glaciers, Randall then lists the tremendous challenges involved in the reintroduction of the lake sturgeon: late maturing species, dam construction and habitat destruction. He then emphasizes the positive steps taken to bolster sturgeon numbers, such as the removal of dams and the restoration of wetlands.

This documentary will explore whether the native fishery of the Great Lakes can be rehabilitated and at what cost. Specifically, this program will examine challenges that scientists face in restoring the lake sturgeon population. A visually stunning fish, the Lake Sturgeon's spawning habits are well known, thus making it accessible for filming. Return of the King will rely on interviews to tell the story of this important step in the continued conservation and restoration of the Great Lakes

The Great Lakes extend, biologically, deep into the wetlands and rivers of the basin. Doug Smith of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources walks the waterlogged path of the Ottawa Wildlife Refuge. He discusses the critical role wetlands play in sustaining the native fishery by providing spawning grounds for pelagic species, such as the yellow perch, and habitat for a wide range of forage fish. Healthy wetlands, he points out, precipitated the return of walleye to western Lake Erie. His interview is inter-cut with historical images of clear-cut forests and the current effort in restoring wetlands in the Great Lakes.

“It’s not a matter of just dumping baby fish in the lake,” states Fred Brown of the Center for Great Lakes Studies. “There are very complex genetic issues to consider.” Fred then outlines the obstacles in re-establishing an extirpated species without muddling up the genetic integrity of possible remnant populations.

At the Center’s aquarium, an assistant reaches into a tank of juvenile sturgeons to measure and tag individual fish. In laymen's terms, Fred articulates the problems in using populations from one watershed to seed another. Painstaking care is taken because today's efforts will determine the fishes’ genetic characteristics for the future. Once they have been determined, there will be no way to turn back the clock.

Wildlife managers net a sturgeon from their boat in Green Bay. They work quickly to take a tissue sample and ultrasonically tag the fish before releasing it back to the choppy water. Chris Greene of the US Fish and Wildlife Service explains, “We want a better understanding of remnant populations and compare it to historic distribution. Wildlife managers and geneticists have to work together to make sure we have a genetically fit population for the future.”

Collaboration between agencies and disciplines is critical to the success of native fishery rehabilitation. Various groups involved with reintroducing lake sturgeon must learn from previous attempts to reintroduce other species. Only together can they rebuild the intricate web of the Great Lakes ecosystem. For example, before the introduction of the sea lamprey, the lake trout was a common species in the Great Lakes. Over the last decade stocked lake trout fingerlings have been pumped into the Great Lakes by the millions yet their adult numbers remain disappointingly low. The lake trout is an aggressive top-of-the-food-chain predator and a successful reintroduction would signify that the return of the native fishery is possible.

The lake trout’s return is not welcomed by all of the people who depend on the lakes for their livelihood, however. Sport fishermen debate the wisdom of returning a species that could threaten a billion dollar recreational fishing industry that is based on non-native salmon. A charter-fishing captain, standing on the deck of his boat, questions the cost effectiveness of reintroducing lake trout and the threat it poses to his business. “Any system can sustain only one top predator. In this case, it’s either lake trout or coho,” he says, adding that it may already be too late for the lake trout.

A representative of the Ojibwa tribe on Bruce’s Peninsula argues that the reintroduction of a self-sustaining lake trout population is a positive first step to the tribe’s regaining management of their historic fishery. References by early French missionaries ascertain that First Nations people have long relied on lake trout as a staple of their diet.

A tribal councilman works to reaffirm the band’s traditional role as natural resource managers. He stands on the rocky shore overlooking the clear waters of the Fathoms Five National Marine Park and states, "First Nations people recognize that the federal and provincial governments have had little success, historically, in effectively managing fisheries. The tribes are willing to take on this responsibility as a step toward self-governance."

“It’s a lot easier to protect a stable system, one filled with the organisms that evolved with it, than to protect a system that’s been wiped clean and is just waiting to be filled again,” says Tom Nelson from his lab at the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory. As native fishes disappeared, the empty biological niches were left vulnerable to exotic species. Lake herring are replaced with alewives, lake sturgeon with carp, and lake trout with coho. An even more insidious consequence of the invaders is the disappearance of a tiny creature called Diporeia. “It’s a system in flux,” says Tom, “and diporeia are pivotal in which way it tips.” He suspects that zebra mussels are starving out these tiny crustaceans that live in the muck at the bottom of Lake Michigan.

A steel shovel is lowered and dumps a load of mud on the deck of a research vessel. Tom sifts through the muck. “The system will find an equilibrium. And it’s going to be either native fish,” he holds up a zebra mussel, “or a lot more of these.”

A sturgeon glides through the murky water of Green Bay. It shovels with its snout in the mud, searching for food. Dr. Randall Jones sums up the efforts to re-introduce this “king of the fishes” and how this is related to the bigger goal of stabilizing the entire ecosystem of the Great Lakes. “A lot of progress has been made in the keeping these lakes great and a whole lot more needs to be done. The rehabilitation of the native fishery is the next step in the slow recapture of what nature had offered us and what we nearly lost.”