Watch: Saving Great Lakes whitefish is a race against time

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by Kelly House; Bridge Michigan

Published November 21, 2025

• Bridge Michigan has spent months chronicling the ongoing Great Lakes whitefish collapse
• Now, we’re teaming up with Detroit PBS to bring the story to your screens
• Watch the episode on TV Monday at 7:30 p.m., or stream online now

Bridge Michigan has spent the past several months chronicling the demise of the lower Great Lakes whitefish, investigating causes, consequences and potential solutions.

Now, we’re teaming up with Detroit PBS to bring the story to your screens with the latest episode of Great Lakes Now.

Once among the most abundant species in the Great Lakes, Michigan’s beloved whitefish are now on the brink of collapse in lakes Michigan and Huron, victims of a European mussel invasion that has upended the underwater food web.

For decades now, whitefish have struggled to reproduce, their hatchlings starving or burning to death in lakes stripped so bare of plankton, they’re as clear as bathwater.

The whitefish collapse has huge implications for Michigan’s environment, culture and economy. And it’s part of an escalating global biodiversity crisis caused by human actions.

The episode takes viewers aboard the Stormin’ Norman with Bill Fowler, a lifelong fisherman who has witnessed the fish’s steady disappearance from Grand Traverse Bay. 

Next, we climb aboard the Nahma with Harvey Bootsma, part of a team of researchers working to find ways to combat the mussels in the waters off Sleeping Bear Dunes. 

Then we head to the Upper Peninsula, where the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians is raising whitefish in hatcheries and ponds in hopes of giving them a fighting chance of surviving the apocalypse in the lakes. 

Lastly, we go diving with scientists in Lake Superior, the only Great Lake where whitefish populations remain stable and invasive mussels remain scarce (for now). 

If you prefer to watch on TV, tune in Monday at 7:30 p.m. on Detroit PBS. If you live outside the Detroit area, check your local listings to see how to watch on your PBS channel.

Featured image: From left: Fisherman Bill Fowler guides a fish into the Stormin’ Norman with help from Kaleb and Joe Barrientoz. The trio of Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians fishermen have adapted to a lack of whitefish in Lake Michigan by targeting other species. (Kelly House/Bridge Michigan)