Estimating Survival and Movement of Stocked Juvenile Coregonines Using Small Acoustic Tags

Session: Restoration and Management of Great Lakes Fishes (4)

Grant Scholten, USGS, [email protected]
Suresh Sethi, Cornell University, [email protected]
James McKenna, Tunison Lab. of Aquatic Sciences, U.S. Geological Survey, [email protected]
Web Pearsall, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, [email protected]
Marc Chalupnicki, Tunison Lab. of Aquatic Sciences, U.S. Geological Survey, [email protected]

Abstract

Restoration of native forage species in freshwater lakes may benefit ecosystem function and support fisheries resiliency. Coregonines (Coregonus spp.) were an essential part of the food-web in the Great Lakes and many inland systems such as the Finger Lakes, NY. Efforts to re-establish native Coregonines using stocking are underway in Lake Ontario and planned for other the Great Lakes. Estimating survival and movement of stocked fish are key to assessing the efficacy of stocking programs. However, such monitoring efforts are logistically difficult on large waterbodies such as the Great Lakes. We evaluated survival and movement of stocked juvenile Ciscos (Coregonus artedi) using telemetry in Keuka Lake, NY, which serves as an experimental mesocosm for Lake Ontario. Ciscos were extirpated from Keuka Lake in the 1980’s. In mid-October 2018, Ciscos ranging from 105—177 mm in length were surgically implanted with acoustic tags and stocked into Keuka Lake with ~100,000 untagged individuals. Survival and movement of the tagged fish were assessed with data from an acoustic receiver array placed throughout the lake. Preliminary results indicate that 18% of tagged individuals were still detected after two months and they initially dispersed at a of rate up to 1.75 kilometers per hour.