In partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Lake Champlain Chapter of Trout Unlimited, State University of New York (SUNY) Plattsburgh, and the Plattsburgh Boat Basin and Oasis Marina, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is entering the final year of the five-year experimental Atlantic Salmon pen-rearing project on the Saranac River estuary. The results of this five-year project studying interventions to increase returns of Atlantic salmon to the Saranac River allow DEC and partners to work toward improving aquatic ecosystem health and increasing recreational opportunities. 

“The team looks forward to the additional information obtained in the final year of this critical research project’s experimental phase,” said DEC Region 5 Director Joe Zalewski. “DEC and our partners will continue to monitor returning pen-reared adult salmon to determine the best management actions to improve the freshwater Atlantic salmon population on the Saranac River estuary.” 

The six experimental net pens will be deployed at the Plattsburgh Boat Basin and Oasis Marina docks from April 4 to May 1. Atlantic salmon smolts will be stocked into the net pens to improve survival and imprinting to the Saranac River. A smolt is the juvenile stage of the salmon life cycle where it begins a period of significant physiological changes to adapt. 

The project will compare two lots of approximately 26,000 salmon smolts to continue evaluating the effectiveness of net pen rearing as a stocking method. A comparison between the stocking methods using returning adults will determine if pen rearing results in greater survival and homing than conventional (direct) stocking. 

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. 

Part of the experimental pen-rearing project is using Parental Based Tagging (genetics) to determine a fish’s origin and ultimately the contribution of pen-stocked fish to the river fishery. Any fry captured in annual surveys will have a sample taken and it can be determined whether it was produced by a stocked fish or by a wild fish. If the fry is from a stocked fish, then it will be known which stocking treatment they were from. 

The dedication of partners throughout this project is vital to its success. The Plattsburgh Boat Basin and Oasis Marinas is providing the docks again this year. Sebago strain landlocked Atlantic salmon smolts are provided by the Dwight D. Eisenhower National Fish Hatchery. The DEC Adirondack Hatchery transports the smolts from Eisenhower to the net pens and to the river for direct stocking. DEC Region 5 Fisheries supplies the net pens and coordinates a volunteer program with the Lake Champlain Chapter of Trout Unlimited. Volunteers feed the salmon daily and monitor them until they are released.  

Funding for this project is provided through the Sport Fish Restoration program, which provides funds to fish and wildlife agencies of the states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories for fishery projects, boating access, and aquatic education. The program was created in 1950, with the passing of the Sport Fish Restoration Act (the Dingell-Johnson Act). Modeled after the successful Wildlife Restoration Act, the Sport Fish Restoration Act dedicated permanent funding for fishery conservation. 

Experimental Net Pen Stocking