Deepwater Bloaters (Cisco) Re-Introduced to Lake Ontario

[Captain's Cove]

While not recent news, I just learned about this from Make the Turn and then I spoke with Mike, a NYS DEC biologist.  So, I thought I would share the information.  Sean Youngblood started a discussion here on LOU about the DEC stocking Lake Herring in December 2012:

http://www.lakeontariounited.com/fishing-hunting/index.php/topic/33865-dec-press-release-from-122012-lake-herring-stocking-lake-o/?hl=%2Blake+%2Bherring

 

But also, a month earlier, the DEC also started stocking the "bloater" fish, ..."a deepwater cisco...bringing the fish back to the lake for the first time in nearly thirty years...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...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."

 

To read more about it, see the NYS DEC press release:

http://www.dec.ny.gov/press/86806.html

 

~ Michele

Captain's Cove Resort, Inc.
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