Aquatic Habitat Helps Lake Ontario Fishery

JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK

Building spawning beds in two Lake Ontario bays are helping native fish species as well as threatened lake sturgeon recover.

Lake Ontario is a bi-national resource that millions of people depend on for their drinking water, health, recreation, and quality of life. The lake contains rich biodiversity, including many species of prey and predator fish that underpin a robust recreational fishery that supports the regional outdoor economy. Two notable species include walleye, a prized sportfish, and lake sturgeon, a prehistoric fish that is a good indicator of ecosystem health.

Unfortunately, since European settlement, the Lake Ontario fishery had been subject to a host of threats, including invasive species, overfishing, and habitat degradation. The lake’s sturgeon, as in the other Great Lakes, had been in steep decline until fisheries managers in the late 1900s started working to bring the species back.

Federal investments from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative are helping in the recovery of threatened lake sturgeon and several other fish species in eastern Ontario, where two spawning beds have been constructed in the Black River, an important tributary to Lake Ontario in the state of New York. The Black River’s swift-moving waters provide prime fish spawning habitat for fish, including walleye and lake sturgeon. In addition, two spawning reefs were constructed in nearby Chaumont Bay, which supports one of the last remaining spawning populations of lake whitefish and cisco, a prey fish, in the New York waters of Lake Ontario. GLRI funds supported the design and building of the spawning grounds.

“These efforts,” said Gian Dodici, a fish and wildlife biologist at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s New York Field Office, in a release announcing the completion of the projects, “are key for sustaining healthy populations of fish species, and they provide benefits to communities by supporting an economically important fishery.”

Resource Challenges Addressed

• Habitat loss

• Species diversity

Key Partners

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, U.S. Geological Survey

Cost

$750,000

Types of Jobs Supported

Biologists, engineers, and construction jobs

Results and Accomplishments

The four fish habitat structures will help support the Lake Ontario fishery, including the state of New York’s lake sturgeon recovery plan and ongoing fish stocking programs.

*This story is part of a GLRI success story packet that was used in the Coalition’s 2023 Great Lakes Days, with one story from each state in the region. Read the full packet

FISH SPAWNING BEDS

Construction crews work to create fish spawning beds in the Black River, a tributary to Lake Ontario, which will benefit walleye, a sportfish, and threatened lake sturgeon.

Credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Submerging habitat in Ontario’s Chaumont Bay will help lake whitefish and cisco, a prey fish.

Credit: U.S. Geological Survey