Gilligan
04-08-2008, 06:03 PM
Just received this update from our charter boat association on the State of the Lake Erie for New York waters.
State Of The Lake Erie Meeting
Armor Fire Hall, 4/3/2008, 7 PM
Report by Dave Barus, Erie County Federation Fish Committee Chairman
Moderated by Helen Domske, NY Sea Grant - Great Lakes Program, UB
Invasive Species in New York State
Steven Jay Sanford, Director, NYS DEC Office of Invasive Species Coordination
NYS Prism Group
Regionalize by Environmental Groups, State Agencies, Sportsmen’s Groups, Geographic Area. Base organization on Federal Model. Identify and coordinate volunteers and professionals, educate masses. Identify who is doing what, where are the gaps, funding sources are federal. Have $5M designated for 2007/2008. Money not here yet, expected any day. Meet public with established outreach program at Cornell Cooperative Extension, who have been contracted for this purpose. A library of information on fishes, diseases, etc. is organized by NYS Sea Grant and is available to public through their public website. More outreach. Official meeting to be conducted on an annual basis will include NYS Invasive Species Conference. One purpose of the Prism will be to establish a four-tier system to list prohibited species, regulated species, unregulated species and to specify a procedure to review and establish new species. Up to now, there has been no definition of fish species by these categories. Without a system for definition, regulation and legislation is difficult. The goal is to accomplish this by 2010. In addition, NYS wants to establish a “Center For Invasive Species” at an educational institution like Cornell University. Cornell will be used after that to establish and coordinate research.
VHS (Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia) Research Update
Dr. Geoffrey H. Groocock, DVM, Aquatic Animal Health Program, Cornell
VHS-V Research
VHS has 4 Genotypes and several subspecies. VHS has been around in Europe for more than 100 years, but it is a different sub-strain that has entered and developed in the Great Lakes and North America. The Great Lakes version is described as Genotype IVb. Type IVb was first identified in the Great Lakes system in a musky survey conducted in Illinois in 2003. It was not detected as killing fish, but announcement of the discovery was circulated among scientific groups. Then in 2006, Type IVb spread to baitfish and was discovered in kills of gobies and alewives on Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. The disease is a hemorrhagic disease that causes mortality by internal bleeding as confirmed by pathological studies at Cornell University. Then in 2007, the disease affectd the musky population in the St. Lawrence River. This is known because an existing 5 year musky population study was in progress. The survey identified that 60-80 percent of the musky population on the St. Lawrence was lost to VHSV. Also inn 2006, a study of Niagara River batfish was undertaken. Emerald shiners in the river were infested with the disease but they were surviving. This indicated that some species could tolerate the disease and be carriers, while others like musky, walleye, smallmouth bass and others, suffered mortality losses. The same was confirmed at other test sites across NYS. In 2007, VHSV was again confirmed in Lake Erie with a massive gizzard shad kill in Dunkirk Harbor.
The European research doesn’t apply to the VHSV found in the Great Lakes. It is a whole new ballgame. The question now is - what to do? The Cornell agenda established a profile for organized progression. It starts with identifying what we know and don’t know with VHSV-IVb. The biggest problem was that it took 3-4 weeks to grow and test for the virus. Focus was placed on developing a new test and now this has been accomplished. The new test takes 1 hour. Now the new test must be standardized and validated by agencies and international labs before it will be universally accepted for use. Unfortunately, this will still take a few years - a short time in the large scope of things.
We need to identify species susceptibility and focus first on species of high economic importance. A lab environment will be used for such studies. One question that keeps coming up is can the disease be spread by salted baitfish? Plan is to Identify if they are safe to ship around from infected areas. Doe ssalt kill the virus? Testing is in progress now.
In summaray, VHSV is still an emerging disease in freshwater fish in the Great Lakes and in North America. New research and new fish pathology needs to be undertaken. The 2008 season is now in progress and yesterday, 4/2/2008, a gizzard shad fish kill occurred in Irondequoit Bay. It appears to be VHSV, red blotches on skin areas, seem to confirm prior to test that VHSV caused the kill.
Lake Erie Warmwater Fish Update
Don Einhouse, NYS DEC, Lake Erie Unit Leader
Lake Erie Fishery Health News
Netting Data and Creel Survey show that there has been a decline in fishing effort in the last 10 years. The data shows that the decline is not related to a decline in the fishery, as the fishery in general for walleye, yellow perch and smallmouth bass has improved over the last 10 years. This is despite new invasive species. The decline in fishing effort is thought to be related to the ripple effect of the economy. The increasing cost of gas and cost of boats and use of boats.
The walleye catch rate is up, the fishing effort is down. The yellow perch catch rate is up, the fishing effort is down. The smallmouth bass catch rate s up, the fishing effort is down. The trophy season since it started in 1994 was changed last year to help combat the offset to new stressors of cormorants, VHS, gobies and more. The minimum length was increased from a minimum of 15 inches to 20 inches. There is a 90 percent release rate for smallmouth bass.
Young of the Year surveys are collected each year using Bottom Trawl Catches in October of each year. The YOY data showed huge year classes in 1984 and in 2003. The 2003 year class will be 5 years old tis year and will be 22 to 27 inches long. The YOY perch show 2 high data collection years in 2006 and 2007. Great news for the future.
Einhouse smiled and said, “I have been doing this job 20 years now and can honestly say - each year the lake keeps changing and brings new surprises. A few years ago, the data showed that the yellow perch fishery nearly gone - look at it today. Hard to say why and harder to understand why, but the data collected confirms the fishery. Each year new trends, new data - my job is never the same!!” Einhouse added, “we compare our data with all the other lake agencies in Ohio, Ontario, Illinois, Michigan - our data is meaningful and very accurate.”
I had to leave the meeting prior to hearing the final two speakers.
Dave Barus
716-597-4081
From Paul Stoos
Progress of Lake Trout Restoration in Lake Erie
Jim Markham, Senior Fishery Biologist, NYS DEC
Jim Markham, DEC, cold water specialist and Biologist gave an update on the Lake Erie lake trout restoration and the sea lamprey and how it adversely affects the lake trout to the point that there are few lakers that live past 8 years. He showed how the lake trout population increased in the 80's and 90's after back to back years of treating streams to reduce sea lamprey numbers. There are different strains of lakers that have been used over the years. He also stated that currently the Allegheny hatchery is not currently being used to produce lake trout for stocking Lake Erie due to disease being found in the hatchery and also a power outage which killed fish being raised The lake trout that are currently being used for the restoration are coming from Vermont. He urged anybody that has any political connections to try any use those connections to try and get the 1.5 million dollars that are needed to restore the hatchery to its current status.
Ballast Water Legislation & Asian Carp Barrier Update
Tom Marks, NY Director Great Lakes Sport Fishing Council
Tom Marks gave an update on the electric barrier including pictures of the old barrier and the new one. Funding has been approved to further the construction and upkeep of the barriers. He also noted that the barrier not only is supposed to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes but also helps to keep round gobies out of the Mississippi River system.
Come fish with me!
http://www.walleyecentral.com/wcdirectory/fullpage.php?ckey=141
State Of The Lake Erie Meeting
Armor Fire Hall, 4/3/2008, 7 PM
Report by Dave Barus, Erie County Federation Fish Committee Chairman
Moderated by Helen Domske, NY Sea Grant - Great Lakes Program, UB
Invasive Species in New York State
Steven Jay Sanford, Director, NYS DEC Office of Invasive Species Coordination
NYS Prism Group
Regionalize by Environmental Groups, State Agencies, Sportsmen’s Groups, Geographic Area. Base organization on Federal Model. Identify and coordinate volunteers and professionals, educate masses. Identify who is doing what, where are the gaps, funding sources are federal. Have $5M designated for 2007/2008. Money not here yet, expected any day. Meet public with established outreach program at Cornell Cooperative Extension, who have been contracted for this purpose. A library of information on fishes, diseases, etc. is organized by NYS Sea Grant and is available to public through their public website. More outreach. Official meeting to be conducted on an annual basis will include NYS Invasive Species Conference. One purpose of the Prism will be to establish a four-tier system to list prohibited species, regulated species, unregulated species and to specify a procedure to review and establish new species. Up to now, there has been no definition of fish species by these categories. Without a system for definition, regulation and legislation is difficult. The goal is to accomplish this by 2010. In addition, NYS wants to establish a “Center For Invasive Species” at an educational institution like Cornell University. Cornell will be used after that to establish and coordinate research.
VHS (Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia) Research Update
Dr. Geoffrey H. Groocock, DVM, Aquatic Animal Health Program, Cornell
VHS-V Research
VHS has 4 Genotypes and several subspecies. VHS has been around in Europe for more than 100 years, but it is a different sub-strain that has entered and developed in the Great Lakes and North America. The Great Lakes version is described as Genotype IVb. Type IVb was first identified in the Great Lakes system in a musky survey conducted in Illinois in 2003. It was not detected as killing fish, but announcement of the discovery was circulated among scientific groups. Then in 2006, Type IVb spread to baitfish and was discovered in kills of gobies and alewives on Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. The disease is a hemorrhagic disease that causes mortality by internal bleeding as confirmed by pathological studies at Cornell University. Then in 2007, the disease affectd the musky population in the St. Lawrence River. This is known because an existing 5 year musky population study was in progress. The survey identified that 60-80 percent of the musky population on the St. Lawrence was lost to VHSV. Also inn 2006, a study of Niagara River batfish was undertaken. Emerald shiners in the river were infested with the disease but they were surviving. This indicated that some species could tolerate the disease and be carriers, while others like musky, walleye, smallmouth bass and others, suffered mortality losses. The same was confirmed at other test sites across NYS. In 2007, VHSV was again confirmed in Lake Erie with a massive gizzard shad kill in Dunkirk Harbor.
The European research doesn’t apply to the VHSV found in the Great Lakes. It is a whole new ballgame. The question now is - what to do? The Cornell agenda established a profile for organized progression. It starts with identifying what we know and don’t know with VHSV-IVb. The biggest problem was that it took 3-4 weeks to grow and test for the virus. Focus was placed on developing a new test and now this has been accomplished. The new test takes 1 hour. Now the new test must be standardized and validated by agencies and international labs before it will be universally accepted for use. Unfortunately, this will still take a few years - a short time in the large scope of things.
We need to identify species susceptibility and focus first on species of high economic importance. A lab environment will be used for such studies. One question that keeps coming up is can the disease be spread by salted baitfish? Plan is to Identify if they are safe to ship around from infected areas. Doe ssalt kill the virus? Testing is in progress now.
In summaray, VHSV is still an emerging disease in freshwater fish in the Great Lakes and in North America. New research and new fish pathology needs to be undertaken. The 2008 season is now in progress and yesterday, 4/2/2008, a gizzard shad fish kill occurred in Irondequoit Bay. It appears to be VHSV, red blotches on skin areas, seem to confirm prior to test that VHSV caused the kill.
Lake Erie Warmwater Fish Update
Don Einhouse, NYS DEC, Lake Erie Unit Leader
Lake Erie Fishery Health News
Netting Data and Creel Survey show that there has been a decline in fishing effort in the last 10 years. The data shows that the decline is not related to a decline in the fishery, as the fishery in general for walleye, yellow perch and smallmouth bass has improved over the last 10 years. This is despite new invasive species. The decline in fishing effort is thought to be related to the ripple effect of the economy. The increasing cost of gas and cost of boats and use of boats.
The walleye catch rate is up, the fishing effort is down. The yellow perch catch rate is up, the fishing effort is down. The smallmouth bass catch rate s up, the fishing effort is down. The trophy season since it started in 1994 was changed last year to help combat the offset to new stressors of cormorants, VHS, gobies and more. The minimum length was increased from a minimum of 15 inches to 20 inches. There is a 90 percent release rate for smallmouth bass.
Young of the Year surveys are collected each year using Bottom Trawl Catches in October of each year. The YOY data showed huge year classes in 1984 and in 2003. The 2003 year class will be 5 years old tis year and will be 22 to 27 inches long. The YOY perch show 2 high data collection years in 2006 and 2007. Great news for the future.
Einhouse smiled and said, “I have been doing this job 20 years now and can honestly say - each year the lake keeps changing and brings new surprises. A few years ago, the data showed that the yellow perch fishery nearly gone - look at it today. Hard to say why and harder to understand why, but the data collected confirms the fishery. Each year new trends, new data - my job is never the same!!” Einhouse added, “we compare our data with all the other lake agencies in Ohio, Ontario, Illinois, Michigan - our data is meaningful and very accurate.”
I had to leave the meeting prior to hearing the final two speakers.
Dave Barus
716-597-4081
From Paul Stoos
Progress of Lake Trout Restoration in Lake Erie
Jim Markham, Senior Fishery Biologist, NYS DEC
Jim Markham, DEC, cold water specialist and Biologist gave an update on the Lake Erie lake trout restoration and the sea lamprey and how it adversely affects the lake trout to the point that there are few lakers that live past 8 years. He showed how the lake trout population increased in the 80's and 90's after back to back years of treating streams to reduce sea lamprey numbers. There are different strains of lakers that have been used over the years. He also stated that currently the Allegheny hatchery is not currently being used to produce lake trout for stocking Lake Erie due to disease being found in the hatchery and also a power outage which killed fish being raised The lake trout that are currently being used for the restoration are coming from Vermont. He urged anybody that has any political connections to try any use those connections to try and get the 1.5 million dollars that are needed to restore the hatchery to its current status.
Ballast Water Legislation & Asian Carp Barrier Update
Tom Marks, NY Director Great Lakes Sport Fishing Council
Tom Marks gave an update on the electric barrier including pictures of the old barrier and the new one. Funding has been approved to further the construction and upkeep of the barriers. He also noted that the barrier not only is supposed to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes but also helps to keep round gobies out of the Mississippi River system.
Come fish with me!
http://www.walleyecentral.com/wcdirectory/fullpage.php?ckey=141