Public webinar: State of the Lake Champlain Salmonid Fisheries

The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are working with Lake Champlain United and Trout Unlimited to host a virtual meeting with anglers and other interested people on the State of the Lake Champlain Salmonid Fisheries on Saturday, March 26 from 1–4 p.m.

View a recorded video from the event:

Jonah Withers of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service presented options for angler diaries and provided a link to a survey where attendees could provide their input on interest and preferred method for angler diaries (presentation is at time 2:01:45 in YouTube video). These diaries would provide valuable information to guide management of fisheries in Lake Champlain and its tributaries.  If you are an angler, are interested, and have not yet completed the survey, please participate in the survey to help determine next steps for the program.  Here is the link to the survey.

Draft Agenda

1:00 Welcome and logistics for meeting with Bill Jacobus, Lake Champlain United; Rich Redman, Trout Unlimited; Don Lee, Trout Unlimited; Margaret Murphy, VTFWD; Maureen (Mo) Lynch, VTFWD

1:10 Welcome and overview of webinar by leadership of Lake Champlain Fish and Wildlife Management Cooperative with Rick Jacobson, USFWS; Chris Herrick, VTFWD; Steve Hurst, NYSDEC

1:15 Overall Salmonid Assessment Results with Bernie Pientka, VTFWD

1:40 Lake Trout Natural Reproduction and Forage Base Research with Ellen Marsden, UVM

1:55 Lake Champlain Fish Production / Hatchery Operations with Kevin Kelsey, VTFWD; Shane Hanlon, USFWS; Nicole Balk, NYSDEC

2:10 Sea Lamprey Assessment and Control with Brad Young, USFWS

2:30 Break

2:35 Assessing and Improving Salmon Restoration with Nicole Balk, NYSDEC; Kurt Heim, USFWS

2:50 New York Creel Survey Update; Gathering Fishing Tournament Data with Nicole Balk, NYSDEC 

3:05 Revision of Angler Diary Program with Jonah Withers, USFWS; Steve Smith, USFWS, Nicole Balk, NYSDEC; Bernie Pientka, VTFWD

3:15 Aquatic Invasive Species: Round Goby Impacts, Monitoring and Champlain Canal Barrier with Shawn Good, VTFWD; Meg Modley, LCBP; Ellen Marsden, UVM

3:35 Status of Cormorant Control Activities with Andrew Milliken, USFWS 

3:40 Q&A and Discussion with presenters and anglers, facilitated by Maureen Lynch, VTFWD

4:00 Adjourn

Registration is required. Upon completing a very short registration form, attendees will be emailed a link to the event. Registration link: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_HJROx3iCS_K0r7EssC1oVA. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. Please ask your friends and colleagues to join us; they must register for the event separately.

To request a disability-related accommodation, please contact Lake Champlain Sea Grant / Julianna White at 802-777-7017 or seagrant [at] uvm.edu no later than one week before the event.

This meeting will be recorded; the video will be shared after the event.