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Male Northern Sunfish.

Northern Sunfish Recovery Efforts on Tonawanda Creek

Contributed by Doug Carlson and Jim Haynes, Posted 1/8/25: Studies of Northern Sunfish (Lepomis peltastes), a Threatened Species in New York, have continued in Tonawanda Creek near Buffalo after stocking in May 2023. This was a collaborative effort between DEC and SUNY Brockport to reestablish the population that apparently became extirpated after 2009. From the... Read More

Scott Cuppett Receives Fish Habitat Conservation Award

Contributed by Scott George, Posted 11/5/24: On October 21, 2024, Scott Cuppett was awarded the Atlantic Coastal Fish Habitat Partnership’s (ACFHP) prestigious Melissa Laser Fish Habitat Conservation Award at the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s 82nd Annual Meeting. Scott is a Program Manager at Cornell University’s Water Resources Institute and the Hudson River Estuary Program... Read More

Electric Outboard Powers Fishery Survey

Contributed by DEC’s Region 2 Bureau of Fisheries , Posted 9/30/24: In the spring of 2024, Region 2 Bureau of Fisheries staff conducted its first trap-net survey of Ohrback Lake utilizing DEC’s new electric boat. Purchased by the State of New York in 2022, the electric outboard, which runs at 48 volts and whose power... Read More

Updates to the NYS Classifications of Freshwater Fish Species

Contributed by Doug Carlson, Posted 9/25/24: Freshwater fish are to be reclassified as Endangered, Threatened or Special Concern by DEC’s Endangered Species Program, and they include the most sensitive species in the system. The program is designed to find and correct problems before certain species are gone forever. Changes are recommended by DEC’s Bureau of... Read More

Possible Silver Chub from NY’s eastern Lake Erie

Contributed by Doug Carlson and Aidan Perkins, Posted 8/9/24: While microfishing in Cattaraugus Creek in 2022, an angler caught and photographed a minnow that appeared to be a Silver Chub, Macrhybopsis storeriana. Aidan Perkins has been in pursuit of rare fish in New York through his college years at ESF, and he had the help... Read More

Name Changes of NY Fishes

Contributed by Doug Carlson, Posted 5/21/24: Changes in names of New York’s inland fishes include several commonly caught members. Most noteworthy among the changes are: The Largemouth Bass known here in the north continues with the same common name, but the species name went from salmoides to nigricans Bowfin has become the Emerald Bowfin, Amia... Read More

Inaugural ‘Fintastic’ Science Blog Award

Contributed by Scott George, Posted 3/13/24: Congratulations to Doug Carlson for receiving the inaugural, ‘Fintastic’ Science Blog Contribution Award at the NYCAFS 2024 annual meeting. Doug has been a strong supporter of the Science Blog since its inception in 2015. Going forward, the author of the Science Blog post with the most views in the... Read More

Piloting the Future of eDNA Sampling in New York

Contributed by Scott George, Posted 8/29/23: During June and July 2023, the USGS New York Water Science Center partnered with Smith-Root and the USGS READI-Net Program to pilot the use of a new prototype robotic eDNA sampler. This robot was installed inside the USGS streamgage at the Hudson River in Troy, NY. The robotic sampler... Read More

Northern Sunfish recovery efforts on Tonawanda Creek

Contributed by Doug Carlson and Jim Haynes, Posted 8/3/23: Studies of Northern Sunfish (Lepomis peltastes), a Threatened Species in New York, in waters near Buffalo were most active from 2004-2014. An encompassing reporta of the findings was published by Dr. Jim Haynes (SUNY Brockport) and coauthors, and it concluded that this fish had become extirpated... Read More

Grass Carp Response Program

Contributed by Touhue Yang, Posted 5/1/23: In the 2022 field season, the US Fish and Wildlife Service kickstarted their new Grass Carp Response Program in collaboration with the University at Buffalo and conducted their first fish surveys in eastern Lake Erie. Surveys consisted of electrofishing and netting at locations where grass carp were historically caught... Read More