Lake Erie

Image Credit: need an image to put here

The EARL BESS arrives to port at Sandusky with part of a 30 ton haul of ciscoes still tangled in netting. The large haul was taken on spawning grounds off Pelee Island, Lake Erie, in November of 1918. Credit: US Bureau of Fisheries.

The Historical Importance of Cisco in Lake Erie

Cisco were once the primary forage fish in Lake Erie. In addition to their importance to the food web and Indigenous Nations, the cisco fishery in Lake Erie was once the largest commercial fishery in the Great Lakes. In the 1950’s, the cisco population collapsed due to over-fishing, habitat loss, and the introduction of invasive species. Cisco are now extirpated from the Lake Erie.

Restoration of cisco in Lake Erie would help to restore a diverse prey community, providing an alternative prey source for top predators like lake trout and walleye.

Experimental Stocking of Cisco in New York

In the spring of 2025, the NYSDEC, in cooperation with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, began a 10-year experimental reintroduction of cisco into the New York waters of Lake Erie. Approximately 90,000 cisco yearlings were stocked in May, 2025 offshore of Dunkirk, NY. The results of this initial stocking will help inform future occurences of stocking in New York and elsewhere in Lake Erie.

Evaluating Reintroduction Efforts

Several GLRI-funded projects are underway to evaluate survival, predation, and movement of stocked cisco. Additionally, ongoing fishery-indepenent surveys conducted in the eastern basin of the lake will be leveraged to assess survival of hatchery fish and search for evidence of successful reproduction. Over time, results of these studies will inform stocking strategies and future cisco reintroduction efforts.

Map of Dunkirk, NY acoustic array in Lake Erie

An array of receivers (black and white symbols) deployed in Lake Erie, which will help provide survival, movement, and habitat use information for stocked cisco. Image Credit: Collin Farrell (USFWS).