Fish Habitat Enhancement Plan

[LongLine]

This should get interesting.  Cleaning up places in the lake and in streams so eggs have "safe" places to hatch & survive.

 

https://dec.ny.gov/sites/default/files/2026-06/greatlakesfishhabitatplan.pdf
 

[schreckstoff]

Thanks for posting Longline, happy to see this published. We have a bunch of papers that will be out soon demonstrating just how degraded the lake spawning habitat is for some species and how some of the experimental rehabilitations have worked.
 

 

Edited Sunday at 12:03 PM by schreckstoff

[LongLine]

I'm really curious how they clean up the weeds off the rocks in the creeks.  Maybe a high power water blaster??  I'd love to see them dump truckloads of small gravel off the old Russel Station in about 60-70 FOW, but that's a real pipe dream.  The east side of the Genny is all mud & silt from river runoff and the dredge dumping ground. 

 

There aren't many underwater pics of the bottom that I can find.  If anyone has some, please post.  

[schreckstoff]

Substrate & habitat classification of probable LT spawning areas in Lake Ontario, including video:

 

https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/6793732cd34e88f5864c50af

 

videos can be big files

 

 

[Traveling Circus]

 

 

 

 

 

 

[LongLine]

Couldn't complete the downloads of videos on sciencebase.  "Big files" is an understatement. Did watch the U-tubes.  Very interesting.  I hope it's successful. 

 

Am wondering about Gobys. I haven't seen any recent data on Goby populations. I did see that USFWS put out an article a while back that they love LT eggs and are a detriment to successful recruitment of LTs.  i.e. that they trapped a couple thousand on a spawning reef.  I understand that LTs won't protect nests like Smallmouths do. (maybe I'm wrong there) Are there any plans to trap them at cleaned sites?  

 

[GAMBLER]

13 hours ago, LongLine said:

Couldn't complete the downloads of videos on sciencebase.  "Big files" is an understatement. Did watch the U-tubes.  Very interesting.  I hope it's successful. 

 

Am wondering about Gobys. I haven't seen any recent data on Goby populations. I did see that USFWS put out an article a while back that they love LT eggs and are a detriment to successful recruitment of LTs.  i.e. that they trapped a couple thousand on a spawning reef.  I understand that LTs won't protect nests like Smallmouths do. (maybe I'm wrong there) Are there any plans to trap them at cleaned sites?  

 

Tom,

 

The bottom is literally littered with gobies.  Dropping cameras down along the bottom shows how many there are,  Trapping them wouldn't help at all.  

[LongLine]

Brian - I don't know if it would help protect just the reefs. (That's why I'm asking.)  Latest preyfish assesment didn't say about them.  Check out this article from USFWS.  

 

Native and Invasive Species Interactions | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

 

 

[GAMBLER]

23 hours ago, LongLine said:

Brian - I don't know if it would help protect just the reefs. (That's why I'm asking.)  Latest preyfish assesment didn't say about them.  Check out this article from USFWS.  

 

Native and Invasive Species Interactions | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

 

 

Tom,

 

We see a seasonal shift in gobies in our intake at work.  Late fall, big gobies become unicorns and we only get 1-3" gobies for the rest of the fall, winter and early spring.  It seems like they migrate to deeper waters.  If they were to remove a bunch, more would just move in.  

[LongLine]

Brian - That's really interesting.  I understand they move out mid-fall or so.  Unfortunately, every question answered by research raises many more questions.  Does the plant's intake also put in a lot of fish eggs? 

 

I'm really curious on the follow-up to the USFWS project as they caught a lot of gobies over 8 days on a very small patch of water during spawn period. 

 

I'm all in favor of the reef clean-ups. 

[GAMBLER]

8 minutes ago, LongLine said:

Brian - That's really interesting.  I understand they move out mid-fall or so.  Unfortunately, every question answered by research raises many more questions.  Does the plant's intake also put in a lot of fish eggs? 

 

I'm really curious on the follow-up to the USFWS project as they caught a lot of gobies over 8 days on a very small patch of water during spawn period. 

 

I'm all in favor of the reef clean-ups. 

I doubt it.  The Rochester basin is nothing more than a mud flat around our intake.  I am all for the habit restoration too.  I just want the juice to be worth the squeeze.