The mission of the Great Lakes Fishery Trust is to enhance the sustainability, protection, and understanding of Great Lakes fishery resources in a way that benefits the environment, the economy, and the communities that rely on those resources. Through funding and strategic initiatives, they aim to foster environmental stewardship and ensure the long-term health of the Great Lakes fisheries.
The Habitat Protection and Restoration grant program by the GLFT is devoted to on-the-ground, tangible efforts to safeguard or rejuvenate habitats that are crucial for the Great Lakes fishery. It supports projects that yield long-term, sustainable natural reproduction of species currently reliant on hatchery production. Priority is given to projects aiding in the restoration of salmonids and non-salmonid predator game species, with potential secondary benefits such as improved management of sea lamprey or the protection of endangered species. The program encourages the use of tools like the Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat Framework and Fishwerks for identifying and proposing projects. Key supported activities include the protection and restoration of vital fisheries habitat, wetland restoration, dam or barrier removal for fish passage, and comprehensive field inventories of barriers for high-priority watersheds. The program also supports targeted land or easement acquisitions to protect essential habitats, contingent on alignment with the GLFT's land acquisition policies and demonstration that the land purchase is critical for supporting one of the described activities.