GLIN==> Press release: NY Sea Grant Issues 1st Independent Review of Forage Assessment Programs on Great Lakes

["List Manager" <adminpst@great-lakes.net>]

Submitted by Kara Dunn <karalynn@gisco.net>

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PRESS RELEASE: JULY 15, 2005
Contact:  David B. MacNeill, Fisheries Specialist, NY Sea Grant, 
315-312-3042

NY Sea Grant Issues Results of First Independent Review of  Forage 
Assessment Programs on the Great Lakes

Oswego, NY - 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, NYS Senator 
George Maziarz requested New York Sea Grant to organize the objective review 
of the US Geological Survey and New York State Department of Environmental 
Conservation programs that measure the fish populations and state of the 
freshwater ecosystem in Lake Ontario.

"This review verified the credibility of the assessment program and made 
valuable recommendations that have improved the programs," says author and 
fisheries specialist David B. MacNeill of New York Sea Grant's Great Lakes 
Program.

MacNeill says 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.

New York Sea Grant coordinated a meeting of fisheries representatives from 
the US Geological Survey (USGS), the New York State Department of 
Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), Cornell University and the Ontario 
Ministry of Natural Resources. That group invited three independent experts: 
Dr. Jerry Ault of the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences 
at the University of Miami, Dr. Steve Murawski of the National Marine 
Fisheries Service at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, and Steven 
Smith of Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 
to assess the sampling programs administered by USGS and NYSDEC. Dr. Lisa 
Kline of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission in Washington, DC, 
facilitated a workshop with fisheries managers and researchers to review the 
panel's findings.

"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 US 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. 
Changes include alteration of fish distribution in the lake.

... There is no trawl survey for the Canadian side of the lake.

... Lake Ontario salmonine stocking policy is developed from information on 
hatchery-return rates, angler-catch data, forage base abundance and biomass 
trends.

... July 2002 USGS 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. The use of hydroacoustic 
sampling was a recommendation of the expert reviewers brought together for 
the independent review of the Lake Ontario forage base assessment program.

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


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