Over 150K fish delivered to Oak Orchard

Salmon, steelhead will spend about a month in pens, getting bigger and ‘imprinting’ at Oak

Photos courtesy of Ron Bierstine: The state Department of Environmental Conservation delivered 138,000 Chinook salmon and 15,000 steelhead on Wednesday. The fish will be raised in pens for about 3 to 4 weeks.

CARLTON – About 150,000 fish arrived on Wednesday with volunteers braving the cold and then some fierce rain, ushering the small fish into nine pens in the Oak Orchard River.

The fish will spend three to four weeks in the pens, getting fed and getting bigger. That will increase their chances of surviving when they are released. They will be a little less likely to be eaten by other fish or predators.

They also will “imprint” on the Oak Orchard, and be more likely to return when they are fully grown and looking to spawn.

The volunteers, many charter boat captains, have been leading the pen-rearing project at the Oak Orchard since 1998. It was the first on the southshore and now there are many, including one at Sandy Creek in Hamlin, the Genesee River, Sodus, Olcott and the Niagara River.

Photos courtesy of Isabella Zasa

The fish are led from a long pipe from a DEC truck to one of the pens in the Oak Orchard River. There are six pens for 138,000 Chinook salmon and three pens for 15,000 steelhead. That compares to 138,210 Chinook salmon and 10,000 steelhead for the pen-rearing in 2024. In 2019, there were 90,200 Chinook for the pen-rearing.

Bob Songin, a charter boat captain, has been part of the pen-rearing since it started in 1998. He said it has made a big difference in having bigger fish in the Oak Orchard and in Lake Ontario near the Point. It will take about three years for the little fish to reach full size. For some of the Chinook that will be over 30 pounds. A good-size steelhead can weigh 15 pounds.

There is one new pen for the steelhead this year, going from two to three pens. There are six pens for the Chinook.

The pens were refurbished with new netting and TF Enterprise in Albion rewelded the frames.

The pens sit in the water near Ernst’s Lake Breeze Marina. Six of the pens were moved farther down the river than their usual spot due to lower water levels.

Rob Westcott, a charter boat captain from Hamlin, is president of the Lake Ontario Charter Boat Association, which represents more than 400 charter boat captains.

“It’s been successful lake-wide,” Westcott said about the pen-rearing programs. “It’s proven successful with survivability. We’re doing anything we can do to help the fishery.”

Westcott said charter boat captains are worried about the low lake water levels. The lake is often a foot higher this time of year. The lake typically gains in depth this time of year, he said.

He is hopeful the International Joint Commission, which regulates the water flows, will facilitate raising the water levels.

“We’ve been in a holding pattern the last two months,” he said. “We are below average right now.”

Lower water levels could hinder the boats from getting into harbor and using docks, he said.

Photo by Tom Rivers: The back of a DEC truck carrying fish encourages parents to have their children go fishing.