I want to determine if Cisco (Coregonus artedi) aka Lake Herring are native to a few natural lakes of northeast Indiana, or if they were originally planted by the government -- probably around the turn of the 19th to 20th century. I have cursory evidence the then Department of Conservation (Feds) planted them just about everywhere then by train, regardless of whether the bodies of water were conducive to their survival. (You know the days of helter skelter irresponsible planting of numerous fish species not considering their impact on native species).

My DNR believes they are native due to the fact they are native in similar lakes in southern Michigan, but they provide no documentation to verify that. Furthermore there was a commercial gill net fishery that gillnetted and sold them, and it is well known the fisherman transplanted them to gravel pits to continue to have fish to net. Therefore it is possible they could have also been moved down from Michigan.

If anyone knows where I can look to answer this question it would be greatly appreciated. I could also be willing to hire someone to research this for me if it's not too terribly expensive.

Edited by az9, 19 October 2011 - 06:06 AM.

Not sure, but one resource to look in are old Bureau of Fisheries reports, they come in huge tomes. They vary in specificness and don't have everything in them, but they have some distribution reports of fish that were stocked, such as carp. There also may be archived documents at nearby universities (or microfiches, and other stuff), and the State may have some in a warehouse somewhere, but these may get thrown out if they get too old. Not sure what is available online.



For example:
http://siarchives.si...#id393895412887

Not sure, but one resource to look in are old Bureau of Fisheries reports, they come in huge tomes. They vary in specificness and don't have everything in them, but they have some distribution reports of fish that were stocked, such as carp. There also may be archived documents at nearby universities (or microfiches, and other stuff), and the State may have some in a warehouse somewhere, but these may get thrown out if they get too old. Not sure what is available online.



For example:
http://siarchives.si...#id393895412887

Much appreciated Huruspicator. Ironically my last name is Baird too (As in Spencer Baird) . LOL

Ironically my last name is Baird too (As in Spencer Baird) . LOL

Ha! Better check your garage and look for the box labeled "1875 data sheets"

Ha! Better check your garage and look for the box labeled "1875 data sheets"

The native range data (provided by NatureServe) that we have for cisco in the USGS NAS database shows that cisco are native to NE Indiana, but it's possible that they were stocked there as well. That species is on my list for review.