Figure 1. Mapof the Menomince River lake sturgeon study area
showing hydroelectric dams that fragment the river into sec-
tions.Sturgeonsin the three major sections – White Rapids sesc-
tion. Grand Rapids section, and Lower section – are managed as
seperate stocks
geon fishery. The current study examines the effec-
tiveness of the new regulations.
Geography of the Menominee River
The Menominee River. formed by the confluence
of the Brule and Michigammie rivers. flows Cor 154
km in a southeasterly direction before it joins the
waters of Green Bay near the cities of Marinette.
Wisconsin and Menominee. Michigan (Figure 1).
The Menommee River Basin encompasses just
over 1544 square kilometers in the states of Wiscon-
sin and Michigan and has a mean annual discharge
of 113 280 liters second–1(Holmstrom et al.^3 ). It is a
hardwater river having slightly alkaline. lightly
stained brown water (Carlson et al.^4 ). The Menomi-
nee River Basin lies within the southern portion of
the Canadian Precambrian shield It has an average
gradient of 1.3 m km–1and it flows over a mixed sub-
strate of sand, rubble and bedrock.
Ten hydroelectric dams on the river fragment its
fish populations, as there are no fish passage facil-
itics at these sites. Lake sturgeon were historically
found throughout the river up to the present site of
the Sturgeon Falls Dam. This study concentrates on
sturgeon populations in three distinct sections of
river between the White Rapids Dam and the river
mouth (Figure 1). The lowermost section of the riv-
er encompasses 3.9 km and is bounded by the Me-
nominee Dam at its upper end and the waters of
Green Bay at the low end (Lower section). Fish in
the lower section of river can move freely into
Green Bay, but the Menominee Dam blocksany
upstream movement. About 2 km above the Meno-
minee Dam is the Park Mill Dam. The entire section
of river between these two dams is impounded wa-
ter called the Lower Scott Flowage. The nest sec-
tion of river is 34 km long and is bounded by the
Grand Rapids Dam at its upper end and the Park
Mill Dam at the lower end (Grand Rapids section).
The uppermost section of river that contains lake
sturgeon is 42 km long and is bounded by the Grand
Rapids and White Rapids dams (White Rapids sec-
tion).MethodsSturgeon were sampled from the Menomince River
using boomshocker electrofishing units (Thuemler
1985). Surveys were conducted in1970, 1978, and
1990 on the White Rapids section, in 1979 and 1990
in the Grand Rapids section and in 1991 in the Low-
er section of river. All surveys were conducted in(^3) Holmstrom, B.K., C.A. Han & R.M. Erickson. 1983. Water re-
sources data. Winsconsin water year 1982 U.S. Geological Survey
Water Report WI-82-I. 326 pp.
(^4) Carlson, H.C.. L.M. Andrews & C.W. Threinen. 1975. Surface
w ater resources of Marinette County. Wise. Dept. Nat. Res., Ma-
dison. 110 pp.