USGS Lake Michigan 2013 Bottom Trawl Survey Video Highlights

The U.S. Geological Survey Great Lakes Science Center has conducted lake-wide surveys of the fish community in Lake Michigan each fall since 1973 using standard 12-m bottom trawls towed along contour at depths of 9 to 110 m at seven different sites around the perimeter of the lake. The resulting data on relative abundance, size and age structure, and condition of individual fishes are used to estimate various population parameters that are in turn used by state and tribal agencies in managing Lake Michigan fish stocks. This video is a compilation of multiple bottom trawls that occurred during the 2013 survey in September. A GoPro camera was attached to the headrope on several trawls offshore of Ludington and Saugatuck, Michigan. The video depicts footage of the trawl passing through multiple schools of fish, glimpses of large individual fish, and views of the bottom habitat (dominated by sand with quagga mussel colonies at some depths). Please see the attached PDF for the 2013 Annual Report.