Pittsford National Fish Hatchery staff, with the help of the Northeast Region's Lake Champlain Fish and Wildlife Resource Office, applied a strain-specific fin clip to over 45,000 yearling fish in 2003 as part of a continuing multi-agency effort to evaluate the performance of three strains of landlocked Atlantic salmon stocked in Lake Champlain.

For the second year Pittsford National Fish Hatchery have obtained eggs from a newly introduced strain (subpopulation) of landlocked Atlantic salmon known as the Sebago strain. Hatchery staff have grown the eggs, together with the hatchery's two historical production strains of salmon, to produce 45,000 yearling fish for this study. The fish will be stocked simultaneously, and with each strain fin clipped uniquely, researchers will be able to collect information from captured fish to determine if the Sebago Lake strain shows superior survival and increased return rates over the other two strains. The other strains have historically been grown at the Pittsford National Fish Hatchery and at the Adirondack Hatchery.

The second year of fish stocking for this study is planned for spring 2004 with evaluations for this year class beginning in the fall. The strain evaluation study will continue the Pittsford National Fish Hatchery's support of the Lake Champlain fishery by maximizing survival of the 200,000 landlocked Atlantic salmon it produces annually for planting in the lake. The Lake Champlain fishery generates 500,000 angler days of recreational fishing annually and $54 million in revenue for the local economy.

The hatchery's work is part of a joint effort between the Service and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department.

NORTHEAST REGION, U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE -- Conserving the Nature of the Northeast