Officers with a Female Walleye
1 2018-08-23T00:22:33-07:00 Dana Reijerkerk 3c44fb85ab096c2290175e81dd4f16f0002a41e0 30861 2 Nation Fish and Wildlife Department Officers Shane Titus (back) and John Abrams, Sr. (front) posing with a female Walleye. plain 2018-08-23T00:24:34-07:00 Seneca Nation Fish & Wildlife Department 2018-08-22 stillimage FWD-014 Seneca-Iroquois National Museum eng electronic image/jpeg born digital Record has been transformed into MODS from the original accession record. Metadata originally created in a locally modified version of qualified Dublin Core. dateCreated encoding= "w3cdtf"; dcTerm:temporal subject authority = "tgn"; dcTerm:coverage subject authority = "aat"; dcTerm:subject recordCreation Date encoding = "w3cdtf"; dcTerm:date languageOfCataloging authority = "iso639-2b"; dcTerm:language Cattaraugus (county), Allegany Reservation, Cattaraugus Indian Reservation, New York (state), Allegany (county) This record was created by Dana Reijerkerk. 1 photograph 2016-04-07 Dana Reijerkerk 3c44fb85ab096c2290175e81dd4f16f0002a41e0This page is referenced by:
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The Walleye Fish Hatchery
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In 2012 the Seneca Nation Fish and Wildlife Department built a fish hatchery to help repopulate our river's Walleye population.
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In the spring of 2009 the Seneca Nation Council approved the construction of the Walleye Fish Hatchery, which was an effort to help restore our once prosperous walleye population and restore and improve fish habitat in Ohi:yo'. The walleye have long been a source of subsistence for our Seneca people and still are.
The primary reasons for a decline in our walleye are:- Kinzua Dam and the maturation of the reservoir
- Sediment accumulation that covers habitat
- Decreased water quality due to silt and sediment accumulation
- Erosion of habitat
Walleye Collection and Hatching Process
Every March, spawning season for the walleye, since 2012 Nation Fish and Wildlife Officers can be seen going out on Ohi:yo' in their electroshocking boat to collect mature walleye.
The walleye that are caught are brought back to the hatchery and placed in holding tanks by gender. Officers check the female walleye on a daily basis to see if their eggs are ready to be removed. Once females are ready for stripping, officers strip milt from approximately 5 to 7 males as well as the eggs from females and mix them in a bowl, stirring the fertilized eggs with a turkey feather.
Fertilized eggs, which at this stage are bright yellow, are placed in the hatchery's incubation racks. A tube that pumps water is placed inside the jar to keep the eggs from sticking together and helps prevent algae, bacteria, or mold from growing on the eggs.
After hatching, fry swim to the top of the water column in the hatching jars and swim out to the raceways, long tubs filled with water. Fry are left in the raceways for about three days at which point they are transferred into either the reservoir or the hatchery's rearing ponds.Releasing Fry into the Allegheny Reservoir
Fry are fish that have just hatched.Releasing Fingerlings into the Reservoir
The Hatchery's two rearing ponds hold walleye fry for 60 to 70 days after the initial group hatched that season has already been released into the reservoir.