Results of independent review
of forage assessment programs on Great Lakes released

NY Sea Grant has issued the first independent review of an agency-driven assessment program on the Great Lakes - a technical review of the Lake Ontario forage base assessment programs. In response to the concerns of recreational and commercial fisheries stakeholders, Senator George Maziarz requested New York Sea Grant to organize the review of the U.S. Geological Survey and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation programs that measure the fish populations and state of the freshwater ecosytem in Lake Ontario.

The panel's recommendations suggest sampling techniques, statistical and simulation models, software, and gear that can be used to improve the precision of forage counts and the accuracy of forecasting of future fish population trends.

Among the recommendations already undertaken is hydroacoustic sampling, made possible by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, of the alewife population. A similar examination of the rainbow smelt population is expected to take place this year. Hydroacoustic sampling uses sound waves to measure fish populations without disturbing the fish.

A technical review of the Lake Ontario Forage Base Assessment Program can be read online at www.nyseagrant.org/glfish/forageassess05/pdf.

Quick facts:

The Lake Ontario forage base assessment program is primarily a bottom-trawling effort conducted jointly by the U.S. Geological Survey and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

•The proliferation of zebra mussel beds on the bottom of Lake Ontario in the mid-1990s hindered assessment efforts by clogging trawls.

•The Lake Ontario ecosystem has undergone dramatic changes - ascribed to the influence of nuisance species introduction and nutrient abatement.

•July 2002, U.S.G.S. data showed that Lake Ontario's rainbow smelt population is at or near collapse, leaving the forage base for salmonines largely alewives. In 2005, the assessment program is expected to use hydroacousting sampling to assess the rainbow smelt population.

•Lake Ontario is the world's 14th largest lake (193 miles long x 53 miles wide, maximum depth 802 feet, water surface area: 7,340 square miles).