by Aisha Liebenow Northern Wisconsin, or the ‘Northwoods’, is known as a beautiful summer vacation spot with thousands of clear, pristine lakes. Every year, tourists fill restaurants for fish fries, buy homemade salt water taffy at local shops, and partake in all sorts of other outdoor activities, from hiking to fishing to paddling. But there …
by Colin Smith Year two of the Crystal Lake Mixing Project’s rainbow smelt (Osmerus mordax) eradication efforts have officially begun. The project is testing a new method of removing cold water invasive fish from a lake inhabited by warm water tolerant native species. Essentially, the experiment involves big trampoline-like air bladders that rise and fall …
When it comes to moving in to Wisconsin lakes, aquatic invasive species have a preferred mode of transport – one that often involves an outboard motor. Scientists at the UW-Madison Center for Limnology and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources are in the middle of a five year study exploring the spread and distribution of …
Last summer, scientists at the CFL launched an ambitious attempt to eradicate invasive rainbow smelt from Crystal Lake in northern Wisconsin. Last weekend, Zach Lawson and Page Mieritz went up north to sample for smelt as researchers look to see what effect the experiment has had on the population. According to CFL director, Steve Carpenter, …
In 1990, a small stowaway was dumped from the ballast tank of an ocean-going freighter into the waters of the St. Clair River, joining more than 180 other non-native species in the Great Lakes. Two decades later, the round goby, an aggressive, voracious, bottom-dwelling fish has invaded all five Great Lakes and has had profound …
Back in 2009, a team of engineers and scientists affiliated with the Center for Limnology had a crazy idea – they wanted to see if they could manipulate an entire lake to kill off an invasive fish without harming the lake’s native fish. (The usual method for eradicating an invasive species is poisoning the entire …
Center for Limnology grad student, Gretchen Hansen, took this video from a past summer’s field season up in Vilas County. While we’ll honor the tradition of fishermen not sharing their favorite spots, it’s safe to say smallmouth bass are doing quite well in this particular lake. Watch as one bass gets aggressive while Gretchen tries …