Post by Nittro on Nov 19, 2012 11:08:50 GMT -5
Deepwater Ciscoes Re-Introduced Into Lake Ontario
Oswego Daily News
Sunday, November 11
by Steve Yablonski
OSWEGO, NY – The “bloater” fish, a deepwater cisco, was re-introduced into Lake Ontario offshore of Oswego, bringing the fish back to the lake for the first time in nearly 30 years.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and partner agencies made the announcement Thursday at the Lake Ontario Event and Conference Center overlooking the Oswego River and Lake Ontario.
The group of more than three dozen was welcomed to the Port City by Mayor Tom Gillen.
“What we’re doing today and what this is the beginning of, is such a remarkable event,” he said. “What you are accomplishing here, restoring Lake Ontario, it’s pretty remarkable.”
The historic action is the first of its kind in the Great Lakes and is the culmination of several years of collaborative laboratory, hatchery and field research conducted by federal, state, and provincial agencies.
The last known fish was collected in 1983.
“Lake Ontario’s sport fisheries are a significant economic driver in New York State and were valued at more than $113 million in 2007,” said DEC Commissioner Joe Martens. “Re-establishing bloaters in Lake Ontario will diversify the fish community, adding stability to the lake’s ecosystem and sport fisheries.”
Re-establishing self-sustaining populations of bloater in Lake Ontario is the focus of a cooperative, international effort between DEC, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Geological Survey and the Great Lakes Fishery Commission to restore native fish populations in Lake Ontario.
This program will improve food web stability and mitigate negative impacts of invasive species; however, it will require a long-term stocking program.
“The re-introduction of a native species doesn’t occur quickly, in fact, most natural resource managers never experience such an event,” said Ken Lynch, region director of the DEC. “This is truly an historic event.”
He thanked everyone who took part in the partnership to make the event happen.
Mark Holey, project leader of the Green Bay Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office, said his office would do everything it could “to continue to support this great partnership.”
Other speakers included David Bornholdt, US Geological Survey, deputy regional director for science (Midwest Region) and Gary Isbell, senior fisheries manager for the Great Lakes Fishery Commission.
Nobody celebrated when any of the invasive species made their way into Lake Ontario, Isbell pointed out.
“However, it is really fitting that we celebrate this occasion where we’re putting something back into the ecosystem that belongs there,” he added.
The event also highlighted the new USGS Research Vessel (R/V) Kaho, which is stationed at the USGS Lake Ontario Biological Station in Oswego.
The new vessel will be used to transport the bloaters offshore for stocking over deep water.
Russ Strach, director of the USGS Great Lakes Science Center, said, “The capital investment in the new research vessel demonstrates USGS’ commitment to cutting-edge deepwater science in Lake Ontario. The new vessel greatly enhances our ability to conduct ecosystem-based fishery research to address management questions important to our partner agencies. I’m proud to see the platform used by the partnership working to restore this important native species.”
Deepwater ciscoes, a diverse group of species including bloater, kiyi, blackfin cisco, and shortnose cisco, were once the most abundant prey fish in the lake and supported important commercial fisheries.
Members of the whitefish family, bloaters feed primarily on invertebrates in water depths from 180 feet to 650 feet, spawning in winter at great depth, and were an important food source for native lake trout and burbot.
By the mid-20th century, populations declined dramatically in association with over-harvest and expanding populations of invasive alewife and rainbow smelt.
Re-introducing bloaters will provide more food choices for predators, such as lake trout and salmon, and diversify the Lake Ontario fish community.
Lake trout and salmon that feed primarily on alewife can experience reproductive failure due to a vitamin B deficiency.
Predators that feed on native species like bloater are less likely to experience reproductive failure.
The juvenile bloaters stocked originated from eggs collected by USFWS staff on Lake Michigan during January and February, 2012.
Bloater eggs were hatched and juveniles reared at the USGS Tunison Laboratory of Aquatic Sciences and the OMNR’s White Lake Fish Culture Station.
USFWS Midwest Assistant Regional Director for Fisheries Todd Turner said, “Restoring native prey fish to Lake Ontario and all the Great Lakes is a priority for the Service. The Midwest Region’s Fisheries Program is pleased that the bloater eggs we collected and fertilized from Lake Michigan will contribute to this historic reintroduction event for the Great Lakes.”
Jaime Geiger, Northeast Assistant Regional Director for Fisheries said, “We support the efforts of this great partnership and look forward to promoting long term success for the fishery of Lake Ontario.”
Michael Morencie, Director of the Fish and Wildlife Services Branch of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, said, “Ontario has a strong commitment to restoring native species in Lake Ontario. This stocking event is an important step in achieving our shared goal to restore native species diversity in the lake.”
“Lake Ontario’s food web has been devastated by repeated invasive species introductions,” said Dr. Chris Goddard, Executive Secretary of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission. “Re-establishing deepwater ciscoes in the lake will reduce opportunities for new invasive species to colonize the offshore, deepwater zone and fill the niche that bloaters are most suited to fill.”
Historic effort begins to restore deepwater cisco, a native baitfish in Lake Ontario
Sunday, November 11, 2012
By David Figura, The Post-Standard
It’s all about giving the big fish in Lake Ontario something else to feed on, and in the process increasing the success rate of their spawning.
That’s the reasoning behind a stocking effort that began this past week of stocking deepwater cisco, a baitfish, offshore from Oswego. It’s the result of a collaborative effort between state, federal and Canadian agencies.
Deepwater cisco haven’t been seen in Lake Ontario in nearly 30 years. The last known fish was collected in 1983. This stocking program is a first in the Great Lakes.
The baitfish grow up to 10-12 inches. They feed primarily on plankton and invertebrates in water depths from 180 feet to 650 feet. They once were an important food source for native lake trout, Atlantic salmon and burbot in Lake Ontario, said Jim Johnson, lab director for the USGS Tunison Laboratory of Aquatic Science in Cortland.
By the mid-20th century, though, populations took a nose dive because of over-harvesting by anglers, along with competition from populations of invasive alewife and rainbow smelt.
The downside of the deepwater cisco’s disappearance has been that lake trout and salmon that feed primarily on alewife can experience reproductive failure due to a vitamin B deficiency, caused by the chemical thiamanase in that baitfish. Fish that feed on native species like deepwater cisco, though, are less likely to experience problems with their eggs and fry, Johnson said.
Chinook and coho salmon currently being raised at the state Department of Environmental Conservation hatchery in Altmar often have a B-1 deficiency and have to be bathed in Vitamin B-1 solution, he said.
The new deepwater cisco stocking program is a cooperative, effort between the DEC, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Geological Survey and the Great Lakes Fishery Commission.
The juvenile fish (about 5 inches long) stocked this past week originated from eggs collected by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service staff on Lake Michigan during January and February of this year. Eggs were hatched and juveniles reared at the Tunison Lab in Cortland, and the White Lake Fish Culture Station run by Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources.
This year, a total of 21,000 will be stocked and the effort is expected to be long term, Johnson said.
"This is unique. There’s nobody anywhere in the world, at any time, that’s tried to restore a forage species in a lake the size of Lake Ontario in order to restore the resilience of the native fish community," Johnson said. "If this is successful, it will make it more difficult for other invasive species to get a foothold on this part of the lake."
Oswego Daily News
Sunday, November 11
by Steve Yablonski
OSWEGO, NY – The “bloater” fish, a deepwater cisco, was re-introduced into Lake Ontario offshore of Oswego, bringing the fish back to the lake for the first time in nearly 30 years.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and partner agencies made the announcement Thursday at the Lake Ontario Event and Conference Center overlooking the Oswego River and Lake Ontario.
The group of more than three dozen was welcomed to the Port City by Mayor Tom Gillen.
“What we’re doing today and what this is the beginning of, is such a remarkable event,” he said. “What you are accomplishing here, restoring Lake Ontario, it’s pretty remarkable.”
The historic action is the first of its kind in the Great Lakes and is the culmination of several years of collaborative laboratory, hatchery and field research conducted by federal, state, and provincial agencies.
The last known fish was collected in 1983.
“Lake Ontario’s sport fisheries are a significant economic driver in New York State and were valued at more than $113 million in 2007,” said DEC Commissioner Joe Martens. “Re-establishing bloaters in Lake Ontario will diversify the fish community, adding stability to the lake’s ecosystem and sport fisheries.”
Re-establishing self-sustaining populations of bloater in Lake Ontario is the focus of a cooperative, international effort between DEC, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Geological Survey and the Great Lakes Fishery Commission to restore native fish populations in Lake Ontario.
This program will improve food web stability and mitigate negative impacts of invasive species; however, it will require a long-term stocking program.
“The re-introduction of a native species doesn’t occur quickly, in fact, most natural resource managers never experience such an event,” said Ken Lynch, region director of the DEC. “This is truly an historic event.”
He thanked everyone who took part in the partnership to make the event happen.
Mark Holey, project leader of the Green Bay Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office, said his office would do everything it could “to continue to support this great partnership.”
Other speakers included David Bornholdt, US Geological Survey, deputy regional director for science (Midwest Region) and Gary Isbell, senior fisheries manager for the Great Lakes Fishery Commission.
Nobody celebrated when any of the invasive species made their way into Lake Ontario, Isbell pointed out.
“However, it is really fitting that we celebrate this occasion where we’re putting something back into the ecosystem that belongs there,” he added.
The event also highlighted the new USGS Research Vessel (R/V) Kaho, which is stationed at the USGS Lake Ontario Biological Station in Oswego.
The new vessel will be used to transport the bloaters offshore for stocking over deep water.
Russ Strach, director of the USGS Great Lakes Science Center, said, “The capital investment in the new research vessel demonstrates USGS’ commitment to cutting-edge deepwater science in Lake Ontario. The new vessel greatly enhances our ability to conduct ecosystem-based fishery research to address management questions important to our partner agencies. I’m proud to see the platform used by the partnership working to restore this important native species.”
Deepwater ciscoes, a diverse group of species including bloater, kiyi, blackfin cisco, and shortnose cisco, were once the most abundant prey fish in the lake and supported important commercial fisheries.
Members of the whitefish family, bloaters feed primarily on invertebrates in water depths from 180 feet to 650 feet, spawning in winter at great depth, and were an important food source for native lake trout and burbot.
By the mid-20th century, populations declined dramatically in association with over-harvest and expanding populations of invasive alewife and rainbow smelt.
Re-introducing bloaters will provide more food choices for predators, such as lake trout and salmon, and diversify the Lake Ontario fish community.
Lake trout and salmon that feed primarily on alewife can experience reproductive failure due to a vitamin B deficiency.
Predators that feed on native species like bloater are less likely to experience reproductive failure.
The juvenile bloaters stocked originated from eggs collected by USFWS staff on Lake Michigan during January and February, 2012.
Bloater eggs were hatched and juveniles reared at the USGS Tunison Laboratory of Aquatic Sciences and the OMNR’s White Lake Fish Culture Station.
USFWS Midwest Assistant Regional Director for Fisheries Todd Turner said, “Restoring native prey fish to Lake Ontario and all the Great Lakes is a priority for the Service. The Midwest Region’s Fisheries Program is pleased that the bloater eggs we collected and fertilized from Lake Michigan will contribute to this historic reintroduction event for the Great Lakes.”
Jaime Geiger, Northeast Assistant Regional Director for Fisheries said, “We support the efforts of this great partnership and look forward to promoting long term success for the fishery of Lake Ontario.”
Michael Morencie, Director of the Fish and Wildlife Services Branch of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, said, “Ontario has a strong commitment to restoring native species in Lake Ontario. This stocking event is an important step in achieving our shared goal to restore native species diversity in the lake.”
“Lake Ontario’s food web has been devastated by repeated invasive species introductions,” said Dr. Chris Goddard, Executive Secretary of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission. “Re-establishing deepwater ciscoes in the lake will reduce opportunities for new invasive species to colonize the offshore, deepwater zone and fill the niche that bloaters are most suited to fill.”
Historic effort begins to restore deepwater cisco, a native baitfish in Lake Ontario
Sunday, November 11, 2012
By David Figura, The Post-Standard
It’s all about giving the big fish in Lake Ontario something else to feed on, and in the process increasing the success rate of their spawning.
That’s the reasoning behind a stocking effort that began this past week of stocking deepwater cisco, a baitfish, offshore from Oswego. It’s the result of a collaborative effort between state, federal and Canadian agencies.
Deepwater cisco haven’t been seen in Lake Ontario in nearly 30 years. The last known fish was collected in 1983. This stocking program is a first in the Great Lakes.
The baitfish grow up to 10-12 inches. They feed primarily on plankton and invertebrates in water depths from 180 feet to 650 feet. They once were an important food source for native lake trout, Atlantic salmon and burbot in Lake Ontario, said Jim Johnson, lab director for the USGS Tunison Laboratory of Aquatic Science in Cortland.
By the mid-20th century, though, populations took a nose dive because of over-harvesting by anglers, along with competition from populations of invasive alewife and rainbow smelt.
The downside of the deepwater cisco’s disappearance has been that lake trout and salmon that feed primarily on alewife can experience reproductive failure due to a vitamin B deficiency, caused by the chemical thiamanase in that baitfish. Fish that feed on native species like deepwater cisco, though, are less likely to experience problems with their eggs and fry, Johnson said.
Chinook and coho salmon currently being raised at the state Department of Environmental Conservation hatchery in Altmar often have a B-1 deficiency and have to be bathed in Vitamin B-1 solution, he said.
The new deepwater cisco stocking program is a cooperative, effort between the DEC, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Geological Survey and the Great Lakes Fishery Commission.
The juvenile fish (about 5 inches long) stocked this past week originated from eggs collected by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service staff on Lake Michigan during January and February of this year. Eggs were hatched and juveniles reared at the Tunison Lab in Cortland, and the White Lake Fish Culture Station run by Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources.
This year, a total of 21,000 will be stocked and the effort is expected to be long term, Johnson said.
"This is unique. There’s nobody anywhere in the world, at any time, that’s tried to restore a forage species in a lake the size of Lake Ontario in order to restore the resilience of the native fish community," Johnson said. "If this is successful, it will make it more difficult for other invasive species to get a foothold on this part of the lake."
