Continue to collect baseline information of larval coregonine community validated with genetic species identification. Sampling of the Saginaw Bay larval coregonine community was completed during the spring of 2021 using pelagic ichthyoplankton tows, beach seines, and...
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Hatchery production and research to support restoration of sustainable Coregonine populations in Lake Ontario (FY24)
This project focuses on the production of Coregonines at the USFWS Allegheny, Lamar, and North Attleboro National Fish Hatcheries, working in partnership with NYSDEC and OMNRF to contribute towards Coregonine reintroduction and restoration and fish community goals...
Evaluating Bloater (Coregonus hoyi) natural reproduction in Lake Ontario
Evaluation of fisheries restoration actions such as the reestablishment of coregonine populations requires a life stage approach to evaluate program success and improve understanding on potential recruitment bottlenecks. Prior to their extirpation, Lake Ontario...
Expanding efforts to document and understand Great Lakes coregonine river spawning
Our project team sampled five Great Lakes tributaries in fall 2022 and spring 2023 to assess evidence of tributary spawning by coregonines, such as cisco Coregonus artedi and lake whitefish C. clupeaformis. Specifically, we sampled the Chaumont River, Niagara River,...
Implementing science planning methods within the Coregonine Restoration Framework via expert knowledge elicitation and workshop facilitation
Is handling and transport stress limiting post-stocking survival of yearling bloater C. hoyi in Lake Ontario?
Hatchery production and research to support restoration of sustainable Coregonine populations in Lake Ontario (FY23)
This project focuses on the production of Coregonines at the USFWS-ANFH and NEFC hatcheries, working in partnership with USGSTLAS, NYSDEC, OMNRF, and USFS-LOBS to further progress towards fish community goals outlined by the GLFC Lake Ontario Committee (LOC) through...
Supporting evaluation components of the Lake Huron Technical Committee’s Cisco reintroduction study for FY24
Implementation of Coregonine Population Viability Analysis within the Coregonine Restoration Framework – Year 3
An extensive review of published and raw data was performed to support the best parameterization of unstructured and structured population viability analysis (PVA) models for Lake Erie Cisco. The unstructured model was used to estimate historical population size and...
Region 3 wild coregonine brood stock collection activities for FY 2021 in support of restoration activities on Lake Huron and Lake Ontario
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services Midwest Region Fisheries Program carried out two projects in support of a multi-agency effort to restore coregonid populations in Lakes Huron and Ontario. The first project began in 2015 when USFWS began documenting the spawning...
Hatchery production and research to support restoration of sustainable coregonine populations in Lake Ontario (FY21, FY22)
This project focuses on the production of Coregonines at the USFWS-ANFH and NEFC hatcheries, working in partnership with USGSTLAS, NYSDEC, OMNRF, and USFS-LOBS to further progress towards fish community goals outlined by the GLFC Lake Ontario Committee (LOC) through contributing to Coregonine reintroduction and restoration. Production requests originate from the LOC and the NYSDEC. Fish health monitoring is a required component of the production program to transfer fish, maintain optimal fish health in culture facilities, and facilitate the restoration of both the natural forage base and the predatory Lake Trout populations in the Great Lakes. Production of bloater (Coregonus hoyi) in FY22 is part of a multi-year restoration effort for Lake Ontario.
How have changes to coregonine spawning habitat influenced reproductive success?
Lake Ontario’s Cisco, Coregonus artedi, and Lake Whitefish, Coregonus clupeaformis populations have declined for centuries and surveys suggest populations are impeded during early life stages. This project developed methods to quantify habitat specific coregonine egg...
Enhancing Kiyi (Coregonus kiyi) research to support the conservation and restoration of deep-water coregonine diversity in the Laurentian Great Lakes
The abundance of the deepwater preyfish Kiyi (Coregonus kiyi) in Lake Superior makes it a high-value target for restoring extirpated populations in Lakes Michigan, Huron, and Ontario. Managers from several Great Lakes have informally indicated strong interest in...
Implementation and testing of hatchery enhancements at Allegheny National Fish Hatchery to increase production and improve health and quality of juvenile bloater raised for restoration stocking in Lake Ontario
The proposed project will install 16 15-foot circular fiberglass tanks to replace 10 45-year-old concrete raceways (scalable down to 8 tank option). The project will also assess a side-by-side production level comparison of fish health, water use, fish growth,...
Deep-water Coregonine Captive Broodstock Developed from Wild-caught Juveniles: Initial Proof of Concept
Hatchery broodstocks (Coregonus artedi and C. hoyi) created via fertilizing eggs with sperm from wild spawning populations or captive brood stock fuel current restoration efforts for ciscoes in the Great Lakes. But, creating these broodstock involves hazards to access...
Developing a coordinated approach to monitoring of coregonine brood and cultured progeny in the R3 FWS Hatchery Program
Supporting evaluation components of the Lake Huron Technical Committee’s cisco reintroduction study: a multi-agency effort to promote cisco recovery in the western basin of Lake Huron (FY19)
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife service conducted two surveys in 2019 aimed at documenting the current distribution, composition, and density of the larval coregonid community in Saginaw Bay. Sampling was limited to pelagic ichthyoplankton and beach seining due to the...
Supporting evaluation components of Lake Huron Technical Committee’s cisco reintroduction study: a multi-agency effort to promote cisco recovery in the western main basin of Lake Huron (FY21)
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife service conducted larval coregonine surveys in 2021 aimed at documenting the current distribution, composition, and density of the larval coregonid community in Saginaw Bay. Sampling of the ichthyoplankton community was limited to pelagic...
Supporting evaluation components of the Lake Huron Technical Committee’s Cisco reintroduction study: a multi-agency effort to promote Cisco recovery in the western main basin of Lake Huron (FY22)
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife service conducted larval coregonine surveys in 2022 aimed at documenting the current distribution, composition, and density of the larval coregonid community in Saginaw Bay. Sampling of the ichthyoplankton community was limited to pelagic...
Detection of Lake Erie Cisco using eDNA – Applications to Cisco Restoration in the Laurentian Great Lakes
Understanding extant diversity in compromised and healthy ecosystems is important to maintaining or restoring species diversity. Cisco (Coregonus artedi) and other coregonines were once found in all five Great Lakes and were central to Great Lakes food webs. The loss...
Supporting evaluation components of the Lake Huron Technical Committee’s Cisco reintroduction study for FY23
Cisco (Coregonus artedi) are functionally absent from the western main basin of Lake Huron and as such restoring cisco “to a significant level” (DesJardine 1995) remains an unmet objective for Lake Huron management agencies (Liskauskas et al. 2007). In 2007 the Lake...
Region 3 wild coregonine broodstock collection activities for FY 2019 in support of restoration activities on Lake Huron and Lake Ontario
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services Midwest Region Fisheries Program carried out two projects in support of a multi-agency effort to restore coregonid populations in Lake Huron and Lake Ontario. The first project began in 2017 when USFWS started collecting cisco...
Developing a Great Lakes-wide database of coregonine stocking
This dataset is the result of coordinated efforts to compile data associated with stocking events for whitefishes and ciscoes (members of the Coregoninae subfamily) of Great Lakes origin. The dataset includes more than 4,700 records associated with coregonine...
Hatchery production, fish health surveillance, and research to support restoration of sustainable coregonine populations in Lake Ontario (FY20)
Project objectives include: (1) Production of coregonines at the USFWS-ANFH and NEFC hatcheries, working in partnership with USGS-TLAS, NYDEC, MNRF, and USFS LOBS represents progress towards fish community goals outlined by the GLFC Lake Ontario Committee through...
Region 3 wild coregonine brood stock collection activities for FY 2020 in support of restoration activities on Lake Huron and Lake Ontario (2020)
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services Midwest Region Fisheries Program carried out two projects in support of a multi-agency effort to restore coregonid populations in Lakes Huron and Ontario. The first project began in 2015 when USFWS began documenting the spawning...
