Coregonid

Cisco (formerly known as Lake Herring) Coregonus artedi are native shallow water coregonines which were formerly very abundant in the Great Lakes and provided large commercial fisheries and healthy prey to native piscivores. In most areas outside of Lake Superior, cisco abundance is greatly reduced and in Lakes Ontario and Erie they are uncommon to rare.

Human activities have greatly impacted fish populations in the Great Lakes, including various Coregonus species such as deepwater cisco (e.g. bloater ( Coregonus hoyi ) and lake herring ( Coregonus. artedi ). The USGS, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), National Park Service (NPS), Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), Department of State (DOS) and Great Lakes Fishery Commision (GLFC) are leading a...

USGS is working to help restore Atlantic salmon, bloater and cisco populations in Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River as part of the Coregonid Restoration effort. These three key species of the native Lake Ontario fish community are extirpated (Atlantic salmon and bloater) or are at low levels of former abundance (cisco).

Restoring and maintaining extent of native coregonid populations in the Great Lakes is a basin-wide priority. In response, an adaptive framework has identified knowledge gaps associated with spatial dynamics and stock diversity. This project used the Cooperative Science and Monitoring Initiative (CSMI) with an incredible in-kind support from agencies and universities from across the region to...

During the first five years of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, federal agencies and their partners worked to maintain, restore and enhance populations of native fish and wildlife species. The following actions were taken to conserve native species that were once broadly distributed across the lakes: Assisting with the delisting of the federally endangered Lake Erie water snake; Improving...