Twenty-seven thousand Atlantic salmon were released from a spawning incubator on the river St. Mary’s this week. The release honored Martin Vanderpleog for his $ 1 million contribution to the Lake Superior State University (CFRE) Freshwater Research and Training Center. The donation will be used for research and training on Atlantic salmon and for a gifted position at the school. “I’ve been fishing for Atlantic LSSU salmon for decades,” Vanderpleog said after helping to remove salmon from tanks called raceways. “LSSU has created a unique fishery in the upper Great Lakes and with the new CFRE is creating a world-renowned research facility that I am proud to contribute to development.” Highly acclaimed around the world for its sporting features, Atlantic salmon are currently thriving on the St. Louis River. Marys, the connecting waterway that drains Lake Superior and flows into Lake Huron. Despite many missteps – the Atlantic is a susceptible fish, vulnerable to disease and environmental restrictions – the Lake Superior State University hatchery program saw its first comebacks in 1990 and soon began laying eggs from returning salmon. Until 2004, it started using only St. Marys River Atlantics for egg fertilization and fish farming for release. Atlantic salmon released from the laboratory is always marked with cut pectoral or ventral fins. The pectoral fins are located just behind the gills on the left and right sides of the body. The ventral fins are lower, outside the abdomen of the fish and further back in the body, about halfway between the head and the tail. For Vanderpleog, his donation – made in memory of his father, Marvin – represents a way of life that he continues to promote. “This program allows students and young people to reconnect with the physical world,” he said. “Today’s technology puts everything in our hands. We can not let it happen at the expense of personal experience. The work done by CFRE and this incubator keeps our passion for the countryside alive. ”
