05-12-1980 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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[?NP,-8 � , STATE OF Page 18 • � LJ�J U�J� c��Q DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES P'letro Region Fisheries, 1200 4Jarner Road, St. Paul, MN 55106 PHONE __29�-2�9 — File No. April 18, 1980 - � o ; � t�; � � �V C� 1 D �� . r� „� rl ._�:: ��iJ Mr. Dick Benson City Administrator City of Orono � ..-� Box 66 ��J �. �T�� Crystal Bay, MN 55323 Dear Mr. Benson: During our telephone conversation on April 15, 1980, you asked that I put into writing our interest in the Orono sewage treatment ponds. The rearing of muskellunge, as practiced in f�1innesota, involves several distinct stages. Muskellunge eggs are taken from wild fish and hatched at two hatcheries. Upon hatching from the egg the fry have a large yolk-sac and are not yet free-swimming. I�Ihen the fry have become free swimming (called swim-up fry), they are stocked into shallow nursery ponds. These ponds have been previously flooded and where necessary fertilized to produce a plankton bloom. For the first few days in the nursery pond the plankton form the muskies diet. At this time newly hatched sucker fry are stocked to provide forage when the muskies are past the plankton stage. The muskies are fed suckers until they reach approximately 12 to 2 inches. At this time they are harvested from the nursery ponds and stocked into expansion ponds. These expansion ponds have been stocked with minnows to provide forage. The muskies are grown in these ponds until fall when the ponds are harvested. The muskellunge, now 8 to 12 inches long, are stocked iynto various lakes and streams. - � The typical procedure for rearing muskies in the expansion ponds is to haul minnows to feed the muskies on a weekly basis. This procedure is both tirne consuming and costly. Here in the Metro Region we have spent the last several years working on a slightly different technique. Instead of putting the muskies in drainable expansion ponds and hauling minnows to them, we have used natural ponds with a substantial minnow population present and relied the natural supply of minnows to feed them. As you can see this is far less expensive. To harvest the muskies we have used a winter rescue pump station similar to that used to rescue northern pike. At this point we feel ure have a viable supplementary technique for rearing muskies. flur major requirement now is that we need good nursery ponds in this region. As of this time we must obtain our small muskie fingerlings from Hinckley. AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER � ;0;,,