Lake Ontario and Lake Erie Biomonitoring Program

Jim Watkins, Kristen Holeck, Christopher Hotaling, Rudstam (Cornell University), Jana Lantry, Mike Connerton, Chris Legard, Scott Prindle, Web Pearsall and Jim Markham (NYSDEC), Brian Lantry, Brian Weidel and Brian O’Malley (USGS); Dimitry Gorsky, Collin Farrell (USFWS). (Funded by NYSDEC) 

In support of ecosystem-based fisheries management, the NYSDEC initiated the Lake Ontario Biomonitoring Program (BMP) in 1995 to evaluate the condition of lower trophic levels in offshore, nearshore, and embayment areas of Lake Ontario. Lower trophic level components (nutrients, phytoplankton, and zooplankton) are indicators of ecosystem health and determine the lake’s ability to support prey fish upon which both wild and stocked salmonids depend. In 2016, this project was expanded to include zooplankton samples from the New York waters of Lake Erie. The BMP is a collaborative project that in 2023 included the NYSDEC Cape Vincent Fisheries Research Station (Lake Ontario), NYSDEC Dunkirk Fisheries Research Station (Lake Erie), regional NYSDEC staff at Watertown, Cortland, and Avon; the USFWS Lower Great Lakes Fish & Wildlife Conservation Office; the USGS–Lake Ontario Biological Station; and Cornell University. Two reports presenting the 2023 data, one for Lake Erie (Markham and Holeck 2024) and one for Lake Ontario (Holeck et al. 2024), were completed in 2024.