PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. (WCAX) – Upwards of 26,000 thousand landlocked Atlantic salmon will soon be let loose in Lake Champlain.
It’s part of the New York Department of Environmental Conservation’s net pen-rearing project. The fish are held in water pens at the Plattsburgh Boat Basin and then released after three weeks. Thousands more fish that weren’t in pens will also be released into the Saranac River. The goal is for the salmon to become familiar with the water in the pens to improve the odds of returning later on to spawn.
“The Saranac, as I have said before, is the most prolific river on Lake Champlain of all the rivers on Lake Champlain. Even though it wasn’t the longest but the spawning habitat up in the Morrisonville and Kent’s Falls area is spectacular, so that is why we are trying to replenish that,” said Don Lee, with Trout Unlimited.
A new fish ladder will also be operational this fall at the Treadwell Mills Dam to help salmon return to their natural spawning area in Kent Falls. Advocates are also working with the state to lower the Imperial Dam so that another fish ladder can be installed.
The fish are considered native to Lake Champlain. Unlike their distant ocean-going relatives, they spend their entire life in freshwater.