The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) today announced the fourth year of a five-year experimental Atlantic Salmon pen-rearing project on the Saranac River estuary. In partnership with the Plattsburgh Boat Basin, Oasis Marina, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Lake Champlain Chapter of Trout Unlimited, and State University of New York at Plattsburgh, the project will help improve post-stocking survival of this species.

“The Atlantic salmon pen-rearing project demonstrates how partnerships can tackle ambitious and important scientific research,” Region 5 Regional Director Joe Zalewski said. “By studying interventions that can increase returns of Atlantic Salmon to the Saranac River, DEC, our partners, and our region stand to benefit from improved aquatic ecosystem health and increased recreational opportunities.”

In an effort to improve survival and familiarize Atlantic salmon smolts with the stocked water in order to increase the likelihood of its later return for spawning - a process called imprinting - the six experimental net pens will be located at the Plattsburgh Boat Basin and Oasis Marina docks from April 8 to 30.

The project will compare two lots of approximately 26,000 salmon smolts to evaluate the effectiveness of net pen rearing as a stocking method. One lot of Atlantic salmon will be stocked into net pens in the Saranac River estuary, pre-smolt, and held for approximately three weeks prior to release as smolts. A second lot will be directly stocked into the Saranac River estuary the same day the net pen smolts are released, serving as a control. A comparison of returns between the stocking methods will determine if pen rearing results in greater survival and homing than conventional (direct) stocking.

Part of the experimental pen rearing project utilizes Parental Based Tagging to determine if fry captured in annual surveys were produced by one of the stocked groups or by wild fish. If the fry are determined to be from stocked fish, then the stocking treatment they were from, the pen stocked or control group can also be determined. The contribution of pen stocked fish to the river fishery can then be evaluated.

Salmon are known for their ability to return to their river of origin (homing) to spawn. The window for imprinting is a few weeks during the pre-smolt to smolt transition. Pen rearing capitalizes on this life strategy, holding pre-smolt salmon in pens near the Saranac River for three weeks before they move into the lake. After two to three years of growing in the lake, the salmon will return to their home river to spawn in the fall. Any salmon fry produced in the Saranac River will spend up to three years living and growing in the river (imprinting) and are expected to return to the Saranac River, continuing the life cycle.

The dedication from partners throughout this project is vital to its success. The city of Plattsburgh provided the docks on site for the net pens for the first three years, and the Plattsburgh Boat Basin and Oasis Marinas will provide the docks this year. Sebago strain landlocked Atlantic salmon smolts are provided by the Dwight D. Eisenhower National Fish Hatchery (Eisenhower). The DEC Adirondack Hatchery transports the smolts from Eisenhower to the net pens and then to the river. DEC Region 5 Fisheries supplies the net pens and coordinates a volunteer program with the Lake Champlain Chapter of Trout Unlimited, whose members feed the salmon and monitor them until they are released.

Read the 2023 pen-rearing report here (https://dec.ny.gov/sites/default/files/2024-01/lkchamplainnet2023.pdf). For more information about salmon in New York State, visit DEC's Salmon and Atlantic salmon webpages.