Salmon-Filled Tanks

Specialized tanks at the USGS Tunison Lab hold young Atlantic salmon until they are released in Lake Ontario tributaries.

A new, sophisticated fish rearing facility in Cortland, N.Y. will help restore Atlantic salmon, bloater, and lake herring to Lake Ontario, strengthening the local ecosystem and economy.

To restore the population, young Atlantic salmon are reared at the USGS Tunison Laboratory of Aquaitic Science and released in Lake Ontario tributaries. The new USGS water treatment facility will use ultraviolet disinfection to prevent any possible spread of disease, permitting wild fish and eggs to be held and disease-free fish to be reared for restoration release. 

Historically, the Lake Ontario population of Atlantic salmon represented the largest freshwater population of salmon in the world. However, they were eliminated over a century as a result of overfishing and loss of spawning habitat from dam construction.