DEC to host online meeting to present 2020 Lake Ontario chinook salmon stocking strategy

Changes designed to enhance overall benefits to fisheries

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos announced an online public meeting will be held Wednesday, March 18, to discuss changes in 2020 chinook salmon stocking locations on Lake Ontario. These changes were developed in consultation with a focus group comprised of anglers and charter captains and are designed to maximize contributions of stocked salmon to sportfisheries.

“DEC continues to apply the best available science to maintain the world-class status of Lake Ontario’s fisheries, which attract anglers from around the globe,” Seggos said. “These changes to our chinook salmon stocking strategy will enhance survival of stocked salmon and improve angling opportunities.”

DEC’s stocking site allocations of salmon and trout are decades old and largely proportioned by shoreline miles within DEC’s administrative regions bordering Lake Ontario. This proportional approach does not take into consideration fish movement studies, the benefits of pen rearing, and other factors that affect the success of the stocking program, including angler preferences, fishing effort, and geographic and seasonal differences in fish distribution. DEC is currently working with the Lake Ontario fisheries management focus group, a panel of 16 anglers representing open lake and tributary fisheries, to modify trout and salmon stocking allocations to optimize the benefits of stocked fish to the overall sportfishery.

In 2020, DEC will concentrate Chinook salmon stocking at fewer sites to enhance post-stocking survival and improve open lake fisheries overall. This strategy will also enhance New York’s late-summer staging fishery and existing tributary fisheries in key locations.

The online meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. Participants can use the following link to join the meeting: https://meetny.webex.com/meetny/j.php?MTID=m8e94b08c21e5ce9a816c88c5238c2725. They are directed to use the meeting No. 647 538 274, password: Chinook2020.

Upon joining the meeting, participants will be prompted to connect to audio using their computer. To connect to audio via phone, use the following call-in information: toll free number 1-844-633-8697 and access code: 641 790 213.

Stocking information presented at the meeting will be posted on the DEC’s website the day of the meeting. Questions regarding this meeting can be directed to Steve LaPan, Great Lakes fisheries section head, at 315-654-2147 or [email protected].