Great Lakes Fishery Commission

Updated 2021-09-14 20:48:58

Lake Erie -> 3.0 Rehabilitation Species -> Cisco

Other species of interest for rehabilitation

Cisco, also known as lake herring (Coregonus artedi), played a historically important ecological role as the primary native coldwater prey fish in Lake Erie and once supported the largest commercial fishery in the Great Lakes (Smith 1951). The population collapsed in 1925 (Hartman 1972) due to over-fishing, though a limited fishery persisted in Long Point Bay until the 1950s (Oldenburg et al. 2007). Although cisco are considered extirpated in Lake Erie, 56 fish thought to be cisco were captured primarily in commercial fishery gillnets and trawls between 1995 and 2020; five of these were caught in the 2016-2020 reporting period. Most of these fish resembled hybridized deepwater forms from Lake Huron while only a few resembled the form known to have existed in Lake Erie historically (Eshenroder 2016). Genetic analysis also confirmed that recently captured fish in Lake Erie resemble deepwater forms from Lake Huron rather than the historic (1920s and 1930s) Lake Erie stock. Regardless of their origin, these infrequent observations are not enough to consider these cisco to be part of a self-sustaining population. 

Several current research initiatives seek to address knowledge gaps identified in the Lake Erie Committee document “Impediments to Cisco Rehabilitation in Lake Erie” (CWTG 2018). The most pertinent research question is whether the current Lake Erie environment can support natural reproduction, including all life history stages of cisco. A recent investigation from 2007-2017 determined that optimal oxygen and temperature habitat for cisco still exists in Lake Erie, even under the most extreme seasonal conditions (Schmitt et al. 2020). Research beyond 2020 will investigate adult movement, habitat use, and survival using acoustic telemetry along with exploring potential broodstock sources for future rehabilitation efforts.