LAKE ONTARIO- STATE OF THE LAKE by Joseph Fischer

      I recently attended a "State of Lake Ontario" meeting at the Farm and Home center near Lockport, a brief summary of the subjects covered are as follows:

The DEC has proposed several regulation changes, they are:

LAKE ONTARIO- Steelhead minimum size 21" daily limit of 3
Smallmouth and largemouth bass- open season catch and release- artificial lures only
Lower Niagara River- walleye limit of 1/day 18" minimum- Jan 1st to March 15th.
Lake Trout- 2/ day with only one allowed between 25-30".

The DEC stated that there would probably be less Brown Trout and Lake Trout stocking due to manpower and hatchery limitations.

PREY ASSESSMENT- LAKE ONTARIO

      The population of alewifes, while still low, is about 10% larger than previously thought. The present smelt and alewife population  appears to be healthy and fat. There are virtually no diporeria, a very important food source for prey fish, and very few fresh water clams left in Lake Ontario. This will eventually effect growth rates of many of the aforementioned prey fish in the lake. The diporeria are also absent from Lake Erie. The Quagga mussel population has continued to expand and are now found in the deepest parts of Lake Ontario. The Quagga's presence obviously has played a role in the disappearance of diporeria and the lower population of clams.

      2004 was a good year for fishing in Lake Ontario with a record catch rate for Chinook salmon established. The average size was down slightly and will probably continue to go down if Chinook stocking rates are increased. Lake Ontario is unique, as it is the only one of the Great Lakes that can still produce 30-40 pound Chinook salmon. If the fishermen want this quality fishery to continue they have to realize that stocking rates might have to be lowered. The DEC does not feel that the forage base currently present can support heavy stocking of Chinook salmon.
The 2-3 year old Salmon are smaller than normal due to the aforementioned lack of quality forage. A little bit of good news is that the Eastern basin of Lake Ontario seems to have a lot of natural spawning with a lot of wild Salmon present in the streams.
The pen-stocking program of the Niagara River Anglers and other sportsmen's clubs appears to have a much greater return than direct stocking. These clubs are to be commended for their dedicated work on this program.
The cormorant control program on the Bass and Gull islands in Eastern Lake Ontario appears to be a success with virtually no cormorant reproduction since 1994. The egg oiling and harassment program has reduced the reproduction rate on Little Galloo Island by 96%. This equates to a saving of over 35,000,000 pounds of fish being saved! The Western basin does seem to have an increase in the population of cormorants, which are probably nesting in Canada, which is beyond the jurisdiction of New York. The federal government has allowed the states more power to control their individual problems regarding cormorants which should help controlling cormorant populations in the future.    



PROPOSED LAKE ERIE REGULATORY CHANGES

      The DEC has submitted a proposal to increase the daily limit of walleye from 4 to 5. This is based on the upcoming superb 2003 class year of walleye throughout the entire Lake Erie basin. This class year should be legal size in 2006.  This proposal would go into effect in the fall of 2006. The big question here is how much will the commercial fishermen in Canada increase their total allowable catch (TAC) to take advantage of the 2003 class year and how much will all the stateside stakeholders increase their quotas? I certainly hope all the stakeholders are conservative in their requests as it took almost 20 years to duplicate the infamous 1984-spawning year for walleyes.
      The DEC also proposed that the popular early season for bass on Lake Erie would now become an open "catch and release"season. All lures used must be artificial. This proposal is based on DEC evidence that gobies immediately raid the nest of any hooked bass and can actually decimate the bass nest in less than 20 minutes!  Bass generally lay far less eggs than walleye or perch (about 4000 compared to 80,000) so their nests are much more susceptible to goby destruction than other species.
      The DEC has also proposed some cold water and stream fishery regulation changes, which I will discuss at length in a future article. All the above Lake Erie regulation changes are open for public comment and will not take place, if approved, until the fall of 2006.


                                                                                     Joseph Fischer