LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Crews are fanning out this spring to stock hundreds of Michigan lakes and streams with young fish.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources says stocking is a tool for restoring and improving fishing opportunities in the Great Lakes as well as inland waterways.

The DNR’s Fisheries Division raises fish at six production facilities around the state. It manages up to 46 rearing ponds and eight Great Lakes net pen locations. The agency has a fleet of 18 fish stocking vehicles.

In a typical year, the DNR stocks about 26 million fish, including eight species of trout and salmon and three cool-water strains of walleye and muskellunge.

The stocking operation runs from mid-March through early June at 700 to 1,100 sites.