Michigan DNR to track fish stocking using 23andMe-style gene testing

Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has started using genetics to evaluate whether fish stocking programs are actually succeeding. The method, described as “parentage-based tracking,” aims to determine whether fish in a specific water body descend from the parents of stocked fish. DNR officials say the approach helps answer whether multimillion-dollar stocking efforts are “paying off.” Jen Johnson, senior fisheries management biologist, compared it to tools like Ancestry.com and 23andMe, framing it as a question of whether fish are related. The DNR typically spends about a third of its annual budget on fish rearing and stocking, totaling over $11 million in the 2024-25 fiscal year. The pilot began in Dickinson and Iron counties’ walleye stocking efforts in the Upper Peninsula.