Salmon genetics - something to think about

[Tall Tails]

Thank you for your effort on this Phil.  It is good news that certain folks within the DEC want to sit down with you to discuss some of the points raised in your paper.  After looking at the SOFTL data presented the other night I have no doubt that the 2 yr old class of fish is down in size 1.6lbs on average as recruitment from that class is mostly wild fish.  The stellar fishing last year was in large part because of that 2 yr old class.  We know it takes a wild fish extra time to get to maturity vs a pen raised fish.  With the success of the pen raised fish we have artificially sped up the maturity of the lake salmon.  They run at 3yrs old for the most part now.  Very Very few 4 yr olds which would be 30 plus pound fish.  I would expect pretty good fishing for that yr class this yr as 3yr olds and a very big trib run this fall.   

[schreckstoff]

"Emerald shiner numbers are not studied, just alewives.Smelt are not studied also and the total forage is unknown ":

 

Check out the prey fish reports sections the in NYSDEC Lake Ontario units annual reports here: https://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/27068.html. 

Lots of great info in them, for instance, the 2014 report (section 12) evaluates results of multiple surveys studying Rainbow Smelt.. 

Time is limited at public meetings. Don't assume if you don't hear about something we don't study it. We have mountains of data on Rainbow smelt and total forage and a decent understanding about what drives their patterns.

[Capt Vince Pierleoni]

2 hours ago, schreckstoff said:

"Emerald shiner numbers are not studied, just alewives.Smelt are not studied also and the total forage is unknown ":

 

Check out the prey fish reports sections the in NYSDEC Lake Ontario units annual reports here: https://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/27068.html. 

Lots of great info in them, for instance, the 2014 report (section 12) evaluates results of multiple surveys studying Rainbow Smelt.. 

Time is limited at public meetings. Don't assume if you don't hear about something we don't study it. We have mountains of data on Rainbow smelt and total forage and a decent understanding about what drives their patterns.

Big bounce back Spring for Emerald shiners. There are large clouds of them in 20--40 fow right now in Western basin. This is good news. All young Salmonoids get a good bump eating these early in their life and Coho, Browns, and Steelhead eat them throughout their life. 

[Gator]

Awesome news! They got hit hard by those two tough winters and it's great to see them bouncing back.

[Sk8man]

Thanks for the good news Vince

[GAMBLER]

1 hour ago, Capt Vince Pierleoni said:

Big bounce back Spring for Emerald shiners. There are large clouds of them in 20--40 fow right now in Western basin. This is good news. All young Salmonoids get a good bump eating these early in their life and Coho, Browns, and Steelhead eat them throughout their life. 

We are seeing a bunch in the intake screens also.