Let's break it down:
There is a stable number of whitefish right now — but the problem is that they’re getting older and they’re not having any babies. Scientists think that could be for a few reasons:
1) There’s disease — some sort of sickness in parents that’s preventing healthy eggs.
2) The lakes are much clearer than they used to be, affecting the food chain. There’s not as much food for the fish and it’s allowing sunlight to penetrate much deeper into the lake than it used to.
"I mean, we're talking about 40 feet down, we're getting UV light ... it's like the worst sunburn of your life," said Kris Dey, the hatchery manager at the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians. "They’re being fried. It rips their DNA apart, suppresses their immune system, it burns their retinas in the eggshell.
3) Predation. Gobies are invasive fish that specifically target whitefish fry. So if an egg survives the fertility issues and the sunburn and then hatches, there’s a good chance a goby is going to eat it.
So what can be done? Listen to the full conversation in the audio player to hear about some possible solutions.
