alewife in the Great Lakes

[Tim Bromund]

Interesting article. This is the first in a series of articles about the history and future of alewife in the Great Lakes and the debate between fisheries managers on how to address them , the salmon fishery and native species. It gives some insight into the thinking of those that would like to see salmon and alewifes go away in favor of native species.

http://greatlakesecho.org/2009/09/02/al ... 2%80%98em/

Tim

[perch predator]

On the finger lakes sawbellys are the main bait fish, and we have a great natural reproduction rate on our lakers, at least on cayuga.

[Gill-T]

I buy the reduction of Lake Trout and Atlantic Salmon on Lake Ontario being caused by all the talked about reasons ie. pollution, Alewife-Thiaminase production, dams on river systems, Lamprey etc. .....are mostly man-made problems, so the bios feel obligated to restore native stocks. Lets hope common sense prevails and the economic impact of pacific species is considered. I find it funny that initially all these invasive species that played havoc with Lakers and Atlantics, now may be helping ie. cleaner water/Zebra mussels, laker predation on gobies (lakers are getting bigger, have you seen the LOC weights!), and I guarantee young Atlantics are feeding on Spiny fleas similar to how they feed out in the Atlantic Ocean on krill and other small creepy things ( their little mouths are not designed for feeding larger baitfish). My vote is for Pacific species. I hate hipocrosy . If the stateside DEC and DNRs plus Canadian DNRs are SO dedicated to "native" stocks, why do they continue to stock rainbows and browns in upland streams. Rainbows are native to the pacific, and browns are native to Germany. Why do they continue to stock Largemouth bass all over the place?

[GAMBLER]

I vote for what we have now. I like the variety of bring able to catch kings, coho, atlantics, steelies, browns and lakers.

[jilou1ow]

Fellow Fisherman,

Write those officals and let them know how you feel!!!! Lobbies work!

[nbajack70]

I like what we've got too. The lakers are certainly down, but the browns and steelies are gettting better. The lake will always go through cycles.

and there is no way they will do anything to damage the salmon fishery. It makes too much money and in this economy that means something