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Don Schreiner Chat Session
Moderator: Hello, and welcome to Bell LIVE!'s 'Great Lakes A
Superior Adventure!' chat session. Today we are going to talk to Don Schreiner
from the Minnesota DNR. Welcome Don, why don't you start by telling us
a little bit about what the DNR is and what you do there.
Don Schreiner: The DNR stands for the Department of Natural Resources.
Our major job is to manage the various resources in Minnesota. I specifically
work for the Fisheries Division and manage the Fisheries in Minnesota's
portion of Lake Superior.
moderator: Justin from Minnesota was wondering, "What kinds of
subjects did you study when you were in school?"
Don Schreiner: Good question Justin. Fisheries is a diverse area.
I studied biology, math, physics, chemistry and writing. The main area
of study however is biology.
moderator: Kelly, also from Minnesota wants to know, "What is your
favorite kind of fish and why?"
Don Schreiner: I guess if I had to choose just one it would be
the bluegill. This is the first fish I ever caught, bites readily, is
good to eat and I really enjoy just watching them off the end of almost
any dock in Minnesota. In Lake Superior there are no bluegills, too cold,
so I guess I would have to choose Lake Trout.
moderator: Justin now wants to know "How come when my dad and I
go fishing we can only can only keep certain fish?"
Don Schreiner: I'm not sure what species your throwing back, but
you may be catching fish that are not in season or fish that are not of
a legal length. Maybe your dad just doesn't want to clean them!
moderator: Nick from Michigan was wondering, "Do all of the great
lakes have the same kind of fish?"
Don Schreiner: No, each of the lakes are actually pretty different.
They have different temperatures, different depths and different shapes.
Because of those differences each lake is best suited to different species
of fish. For example, Lake Superior is very cold and deep, the most abundant
species is Lake Trout. In Lake Erie which is relatively shallow and warm,
the most abundant species of gamfish is Walleye.
moderator: On the subject of temperature, Kelly wants to know, "I
heard Lake Superior is very cold. How can the fish survive in such cold
water?"
Don Schreiner: That's a good question. Some species really won't
survive in Lake Superior because the temperature is too cold. Those that
do have adapted to the cold water over many years. Some Lake Superior
fish are unusually fat due to stored up energy that helps them through
the coldest periods while others are only found in the warmest parts of
the lake, only grow during the summer and almost hibernate or move very
little during the coldest parts of the year.
moderator: Sarah from Wisconsin was wondering, "What is the biggest
fish in Lake Superior?"
Don Schreiner: That's always an interesting question. The largest
fish I know of is the Lake Sturgeon. They routinely reach 100 pounds and
live for well over 100 years. There are presently very few of these fish
left in Lake Superior due to habitat damage and dams on important spawning
streams. We are however stocking small sturgeon and hope they will return
as adults to spawn which can take up to 25 years! So far this program
looks successful.
moderator: Megan from Illinois said, "I heard that fish never sleep
because they don't have eyelids. Is that true?"
Don Schreiner: I'm certainly not an expert on fish sleeping, but
I've never seen one with eye lids. I have done some scuba diving at night
and have found the fish to be very approachable and very. I just assumed
they were sleeping or at least resting.
moderator: Alex from Minnesota wants to know, "How do fish get
into lakes if there are no rivers around?"
Don Schreiner: That's a really good question. Before humans showed
up fish in this part of the world inhabitated lakes soon after the glaciers
left. During this period many of the water bodies that are now land locked
had connections. In present times, fish are transported by humans through
stocking and to some extent by birds that transport fertilized eggs in
their feathers when they move between water bodies.
moderator: Don, maybe you could tell us what a fishery is and explain
to us what you mean when you say you are 'stocking' certain kinds of fish.
Don Schreiner: In simple terms, a fishery is a fish population
that humans exploit by harvesting the fish. Stocking is the process of
putting fish into the water. The fish may come from a hatchery or be moved
from another body of water.
moderator: Sarah from Wisconsin wants to says, "I know that some
animals only eat meat or plants. Are there plant eating fish too?"
Don Schreiner: Sarah, there are some fish that eat only plants,
but many fish eat both plants and animals. The one fish that comes to
mind as far as plant eaters go is the Grass Carp. This species has been
used to control heavy concentrations of aquatic plants in the central
and southern U.S.
moderator: Megan from Illinois was curious, "Do you work on a boat
and have you ever gotten sea sick?"
Don Schreiner: Megan, I do work on a boat in Lake Superior. It
is a 26 foot boat with two 115 horse power outboards. At times it can
get very rough on Lake Superior. So far I have not gotten sea sick, but
some of my crew have and it sure doesn't look like any fun!!! We try not
to go out when it's extremely dangerous.
moderator: Alex wants to know, "What do the fish do when the lake
freezes?"
Don Schreiner: They do pretty much the same thing they do when
the lake is open. but they do it slower. Because fish are cold blooded
they metablize (eat and digest) at the same rate as the temperature that
surrounds them. So if the water temperature is 40 degrees, the fishes
body temperature is 40 degrees. Our body temperature is almost always
around 98.6 degrees no matter what temperature we are exposed to. This
makes us warm blooded.
moderator: Nick from Michigan was wondering how fish breathe under
water.
Don Schreiner: Nick, fish use gills to breath under water. The
gills are arranged so they can pull the oxygen out of the water and transport
it into the blood of the fish much like we breath air and our lungs transport
oxygen from the air into our blood.
moderator: Well we are almost out of time, but before we go I would
like to thank everyone for participating in this chat session. I would
especially like to thank Don Schreiner for answering all of our questions.
Make sure you look out for him in the up-coming broadcast! Tomorrow we
will chat with Nigel Wattrus at 9:00 am and Bob Sterner at 1:00. See you
then!
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Last modified on May 23, 2002.