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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently put into service the M/V
Spencer F. Baird, a one-of-a-kind vessel that will stock millions of
native lake trout in the Great Lakes. The boat was christened and
commissioned during a ceremony at the Great Lakes Maritime Academy Pier
in Traverse City.
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The 95-foot Baird is a fish stocking and population assessment vessel that will annually stock nearly four million lake trout into lakes Huron and Michigan, furthering a four decade effort by the USFWS and its partners to restore depleted lake trout populations in the Great Lakes and to establish self-sustaining populations of this native fish, which was nearly wiped out in the late 1950s because of invasion of sea lampreys, overfishing and pollution.
“This is a proud day for the Fish and Wildlife Service,” said Robyn Thorson, the service’s Midwest Regional Director during the dedication ceremony. “The newly-dedicated, ultra-modern M/V Spencer F. Baird is a welcome addition to the service’s conservation efforts in the Great Lakes, and we are pleased to celebrate the ship’s dedication with our fisheries partners.”
Of some 90 science vessels on the Great Lakes, the Spencer F. Baird is the only hatchery fish distribution vessel in operation, distributing fish reared at the Fish and Wildlife Service’s Iron River National Fish Hatchery in Wisconsin and Pendills Creek and Jordan River national fish hatcheries in Michigan.
In addition to its stocking duties, the Baird — operating with a crew of three — will evaluate the performance of stocked lake trout. It also will measure the abundance and distribution of other fish species, which will help meet the information and research needs of the service and its state, tribal, provincial and federal partners.
After decades of restoration work, self-sustaining populations of lake trout are established in Lake Superior, and Lake Huron is showing signs of rehabilitation. Research continues to identify major limiting factors affecting lake trout restoration in these two lakes.
The service produces nearly four million lake trout each year and transports 95 percent of these fish to key Great Lakes offshore sites for release. Offshore stocking results in better survival and increases the probability that lake trout will spawn at offshore habitats near stocking locations. The goal of the program is to re-establish self-sustaining populations of lake trout in their historic spawning reefs.
Each year, the Baird will travel nearly 3,000 miles stocking lakes Huron and Michigan.
Once the trout-stocking mission is completed, all fish tanks will be removed from the Baird’s deck and replaced by fishing gear to carry out assessments to measure the performance success of stocked lake trout. The Baird also will monitor and assess other fish populations in lakes Michigan, Huron and Superior. Using bottom trawls, mid-water trawls and gill nets, the Baird’s crew will sample prey and predator fish to gather important biological information on fish communities in the Great Lakes.
The Baird also has a hydroacoustic system that will measure fish abundance using sound waves as the vessel moves through water. This data will be collected in annual surveys, often done cooperatively with federal, state, tribal and provincial partners.
The M/V Spencer F. Baird replaces the M/V Togue, which was smaller at 85 feet, says USFWS spokesperson Rachel F. Levin.
Built in 1975, the Togue was a shrimp trawler before the U.S. Customs Service confiscated it for carrying contraband cargo. The service retrofitted the Togue, and in 1989 it began its Great Lakes work. But it has now come to the end of its working life.
During its lifetime as a stocking vessel, the Togue placed 10s of millions of lake trout in the Great Lakes, making it a critical component to the success of the service’s lake trout restoration program.
Levin added the Baird will be spending its off-seasons at its homeport in Cheboygan. “The Baird’s major stocking season will last from April to July,” Levin said. “After that the vessel will conduct research as needed to benefit us or our partners. That’s when it will be out there doing the work.”
Before the boat gets down to its annual schedule, though, it might go on a whirlwind tour of the area.
“We are hoping — and we don’t have any specifics yet — but we would like to take next spring to do a little tour around the Great Lakes and hit some of the ports so that folks outside the immediate Cheboygan area will have a chance to come aboard see the boat and chat with the crew. We hope to do that next spring and summer,” Levin said.
Otherwise, chances to tour the boat will be hit and miss. “If it’s in port and if the crew is there and if they have time between their official duties, I’m sure they will be happy to show folks the new vessel,” Levin said.
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