Lawmakers propose $500 million for whitefish protection research

LANSING — Efforts to protect Great Lakes whitefish populations could receive a $500 million boost from the federal government.

Environmental groups and the state say the funding would support a decade of research on the invasive mussels that are mostly responsible for recent declines in whitefish populations .

“Invasive muscles like zebra and quagga mussels have filtered out a lot of the much needed nutrients and food — that has essentially caused the collapse of the food web,” said Marc Smith, Great Lakes policy director for the National Wildlife Federation.

Steve Lenart, tribal fisheries coordinator for the Department of Natural Resources, says that populations in Lake Michigan and Lake Huron are seeing a decline in young fish that live long enough to reproduce.

Lenart says that wi