Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: Vermont
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

Lake Champlain historically supported populations of Atlantic salmon, but they were extirpated from the basin in the mid-1800s due to overfishing and habitat degradation. Restocking efforts began in the 1970s, but no self-sustaining populations have established themselves. Furthermore, they is an extremely truncated age distribution, with most adults returning to spawn after a single year in the lake. Acoustic telmetry and genetic mark-recapture help inform our understanding of land locked Atlnatic salmon. In this project, we will use acoustic telemetry and genetic mark-recapture to test different hypotheses related to stocking methods. This will help identify the behaviors and factors related to salmon survival and growth, which are necessary to inform managers about approaches to improve managements and establish a self-sustaining population. The project partners are the USFWS and the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department. Results from this study will help managers understand the most effective stocking methods and will inform a life-cycle model that will be used to better understand the limiting factors in the establishment of a self-sustaining salmon population.