LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is leaning on DNA parentage checks to decide where walleye stocking actually works, expanding a method rolled out in the 2024-25 fiscal year.
Biologists take genetic samples from hatchery brood fish before young walleye are released, then compare that DNA with tissue from fish caught later in lakes and rivers. Processing runs through a Michigan State University laboratory.
The shift is meant to replace flimsy physical tags and internal marks that are often lost or never reported. Managers can see which waters still depend on hatchery fish and which already sustain themselves.
During 2024-25 the agency spent more than $11 million on stocking. A pilot in Upper Peninsula lakes has already changed practice: stocking stopped at Hagerman Lake after results showed the program was not working there.
Next, the DNR plans about 500 statewide samples of stocked walleye in the coming fiscal year to steer where those dollars go.
Nighttime electrofishing crews working from late September into mid-October scoop young-of-year walleye near shore to help answer the same question — whether fish hatched in the wild or came from stocking. Tribal agencies and U.S. Forest Service teams, including work in the Hiawatha National Forest, are running related surveys.
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