On April 12, 2022, Cornell Field Station staff completed the marking portion of the 2022 Oneida Lake walleye mark-recapture population estimate. Over 21,000 adult walleye were marked with a fin clip and released back into the lake. Later in the summer and fall, walleye will be collected throughout the lake and the ratio of marked to unmarked walleye will allow researchers to estimate the population. Oneida Lake is home to the State’s most valuable walleye sportfishery.
This study is conducted in cooperation with the NYSDEC Oneida Fish Cultural Station located in Constantia, New York. Hatchery personnel set nets around the mouth of Scriba Creek, a known walleye spawning tributary of Oneida Lake, to collect male and female walleye as they prepare for spawning. Walleye are brought into the hatchery and stripped of their eggs and sperm. Once stripped, fish are marked by Cornell staff and then released back into Scriba Creek.
Fertilized eggs are transferred to hatchery jars where they will incubate for about 3 weeks until hatching. Most of the newly hatched fry are then stocked back into Oneida Lake, with the remainder being held and raised to fingerling stage and stocked in other NYS waters. This is the State’s only walleye hatchery and is the source of fish for the entire walleye propagation program.
