Pen Rearing:
Ensuring Our Fishing Future
In the spring of 1998 a new chapter of the trout and salmon on Lake Ontario was being written. The project actually started many months before with telephone calls and letters exchanged between interested parties in Orleans County and people who were actively involved with pen rearing projects in the Michigan area. Then there were the meetings with a committee from the Oak Orchard Business Association and representatives from the Region 8 office of the New York State D.E.C. fisheries unit to discuss the feasibility of the project and the willingness to take the project on. Once the decision was made to go ahead with the project, holding pens had to be built and nets had to be purchased. The New York State D.E.C. provided us with the fish and the food to feed them. That first spring we received 5,000 steelhead and 50,000 Chinook salmon to begin the pen-rearing project. This was the first time on Lake Ontario that a project such as this was attempted. The scary part of the project was that we would not know for a period of approximately 3 years whether or not the project was successful. Not only that but the fish put into the pens were part of our allotted stocking which meant that if anything happened to those fish, we would be short on our stocking allotment.
 In the spring of 1998 a new chapter of the trout and salmon on Lake Ontario was being written. The project actually started many months before with telephone calls and letters exchanged between interested parties in Orleans County and people who were actively involved with pen rearing projects in the Michigan area. Then there were the meetings with a committee from the Oak Orchard Business Association and representatives from the Region 8 office of the New York State D.E.C. fisheries unit to discuss the feasibility of the project and the willingness to take the project on. Once the decision was made to go ahead with the project, holding pens had to be built and nets had to be purchased. The New York State D.E.C. provided us with the fish and the food to feed them. That first spring we received 5,000 steelhead and 50,000 Chinook salmon to begin the pen-rearing project. This was the first time on Lake Ontario that a project such as this was attempted. The scary part of the project was that we would not know for a period of approximately 3 years whether or not the project was successful. Not only that but the fish put into the pens were part of our allotted stocking which meant that if anything happened to those fish, we would be short on our stocking allotment.
You might be asking yourself at this point, “What is pen rearing and what does pen rearing accomplish?” Simply put, pen rearing is the process whereby young fish are placed in holding pens, fed numerous times a day and held for a period of time until they are ready to be released into the main body of water. During the time they are held in the pens, they are protected from any predators and allowed to grow in length and weight. There is also the theory that by getting the fish at a very early stage, they will be imprinted to the waters in which they are held. This is especially true with the young salmon. What this means is that when these fish are ready to spawn, they will return to the waters they were reared in.
As simple as that seems, it is a very labor-intensive project. The labor starts with the assembling of the pens early in the spring of the year. The nets have to be stored out of the sun to protect them from the effects of the UV rays. Once the nets are secured to the frames, the pen is then moved into the water and secured to the shore. This is normally accomplished by securing them to a dock or pier.
Once the fish arrive from the hatchery and are placed into the pens, the labor really starts. The fish have to be fed 4 to 6 times a day and the pens have to be cleaned at least every other day. The temperature of the water has to be monitored as well as the oxygen content of the water. All of this is done while keeping an eye on the actions of the fish.
This is all accomplished by an army of volunteers that donate their time just for the love of the fishery, and the desire to improve an already great fishery.
These fish are held in the pens for a period of time dictated by the fish themselves. Their actions in the pens give us the signal that they are ready to be released. If we try to hold them too long, they will start attacking each other and then all of the gain we have worked so hard for is lost.
When the fish are ready to be released, the pens are towed out into the lake, the top of the netting is cut loose from the frames and the fish are released. At that point we all breathe a collective sigh of relief and then get back to work. The pens must be towed back to the docks, lifted out of the water, the nets cleaned, dried, folded and stored away. The pen frames are then stored away after they are cleaned and any repairs are made to them that are needed.
In the beginning of the article I said that we would not know the success of the project for 3 years. This spring will be the twelfth year of what we now know to be a very successful project. It is working so well that many other areas along the Southern and Northern shores of Lake Ontario are doing similar projects and also being very successful as well. We now have been raising 82,500 Salmon and 14,000 Steelhead in our pens for the last 5 years and hope to increase the Salmon to 120,500 this spring. What does all of this mean to the average trout and salmon fisherman? It is two fold; one, it improves the opportunities for angler’s success, and two, it means that local groups are doing everything possible to help the D.E.C. maintain a World-Class cold-water fishery for now and well into the future.
If you are interested in finding out more about this project or wish to help out, please contact one of the local Fishing Clubs, Business Associations or the Orleans County Tourism office. An extra pair of hands is always a welcome sight. |
