Net Pen Project

The Grand Haven and Grand Rapids Chapters of the MSSFA have for many years built and maintained four net pens. Every spring, we place the net pens in the water at Grand Haven. We use the City of Grand Haven's docks. It takes a crew of about ten men to do this.

We get fish from the Michigan DNR in the early spring and we raise them for four to six weeks. These fish are fed at 7:00 a.m., 12 noon, and 6:00 p.m. every day. The feeding is done by the Grand Rapids and Grand Haven Steelheaders and the Grand Haven Chapter Boat Association.

Getting the net pen ready, monitoring the net pens

These fish are tested by the DNR for everything from their fat content to how all their body parts are doing. When these fry age and become smolt, they are released. We generally do this at night because we feel that the fish have a better chance to make it to the lake. There's not as many predators, seagulls and ducks. We use a crane to get the pens out and they have to be cleaned and stored for the year.

Each of the last ten years or so, we have raised 200,000 (two hundred thousand) fish that are about three inches long when we get them and about four and one half inches when they are released.

We feel that our chapters have planted over 2 million fish into the fishery since we started this program.

Our Net Pen Committee consists of three men from each Chapter. We feel that this is one of the most important things we do.

G.R. Steelheaders putting fry into the net pen