The goal of the Michigan Arctic Grayling Initiative (MAGI) is to restore self-sustaining populations of extirpated Arctic Grayling Thymallus acrticus into some select historic Michigan range river systems. While success will ultimately hinge on habitats, to increase the likelihood of success, several very important factors needed to be considered and addressed far before reintroduction, during the brood development planning process.
This presentation will review considerations taken during the process. This includes considering fundamentals about the founding stock such as availability and reliability to access of the founding stock, ensuring healthy genetic variability, and the existence of a credible founding stock disease history. It also includes how gametes are crossed and are selected, including meeting goals for the number of contributing adults, maintaining 1:1 spawning ratios, and random selection of fertilized eggs.