Updated 2020-04-20 13:10:43
Lake Ontario -> 3.0 Deep Pelagic And Offshore Benthic Zone Goal -> Lake Trout
Reporting Interval
2014 - 2019
Area
Meeting Target?
Does Not Meet
Indicator Trend
Upward trend
Confidence?
High
Increasing populations of wild Lake Trout across a range of age-groups sufficient to maintain self-sustaining populations.
The catch of young native lake trout in 25 of the last 26 years implies feasibility of lake trout rehabilitation in Lake Ontario (Schneider et al. 1997), however the low numbers of native adults observed during that time period continues to indicate substantial restoration impediments exist. The recent large catches of young wild lake trout at the west end of Lake Ontario off the mouth of the Niagara River are encouraging, but abundance there has declined since 2014. Achieving the goal of a self-sustaining population will require consistent production of relatively large wild year-classes across the lake-wide range of spawning habitats and survival of those fish to reproductive ages.
Methodology
NY Bottom Trawl
Abundance of naturally reproduced age-0 to age-2 unclipped and untagged lake trout was calculated from the entire USGS-NYSDEC annual bottom trawl catch which in most years came from four surveys occurring during April-October (O’Gorman et al. 2000; Owens et al. 2003; Weidel et al. 2018). In general bottom trawls were fished for 5-10min along contours at 10m increments normally including a depth range that encompassed the near shore extent of water <15C and proceeding deeper to at least 110m. Catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) was calculated based on 13 to 14 sites fished in each survey encompassing the entire US shoreline from the Niagara River to Cape Vincent. Data is presented based on regional summaries for three regions: the Western region representing the two westernmost sites adjacent to the mouth of the Niagara River where the greatest catches of wild lake trout occurs; the Central region encompassing all eleven main lake sites from Olcott to Southwicks; and the Eastern region representing all trawling locations in the eastern basin where much of the historically described spawning habitat occurs.
ON Bottom Trawl
A long-term multispecies bottom trawl survey conducted in the Kingston Basin and at Rocky Point (Weidel et al. 2017, Deitrich et al. 2006) was utilized to provide an index of naturally reproduced lake trout as indicated by the absence of fin clips. Stable isotope analysis suggested that more than 90% of unclipped fish were of wild origin (Schaner et al 2007). Ages were determined through a combination of otolith interpretation and length frequency assignment.
Other Resources
Connerton,M.J.. and Eckert, T. H. 2019. 2019 Lake Ontario fishing boat survey. Section 2 In 2019 NYSDEC Annual Report, Bureau of Fisheries Lake Ontario Unit and St. Lawrence River Unit to the Great Lakes Fishery Commission’s Lake Ontario Committee.
Lantry, B. F., Lantry, J. R. and Connerton, M. J. 2019. Lake trout rehabilitation in Lake Ontario, 2017. Section 5 In 2017 NYSDEC Annual Report, Bureau of Fisheries Lake Ontario Unit and St. Lawrence River Unit to the Great Lakes Fishery Commission Lake Ontario Committee.
Lantry, J., Schaner, T., and Copeland T. 2014. A management strategy for the restoration of lake trout in Lake Ontario, 2014 Update. Available from http://www.glfc.org/lakecom/loc/lochome.php [accessed 03 March 2015].
Schneider, C. P., Schaner, T., Orsatti, S., Lary, S. and D. Busch. 1997. A management strategy for Lake Ontario lake trout. Report to the Lake Ontario Committee.
Contributing Author(s)
- Brian F. Lantry - U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
- Jeremy P. Holden - Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (OMNRF)
- Michael J. Connerton - New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC)
- Dimitry Grosky - USFWS Lower Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office