POND CULTURE OF PUGNOSE SHINERS Notropis anogenus IS A FEASIBLE STRATEGY FOR RESTORING EXTIRPATED POPULATIONS IN NEW YORK WATERS.

This project was initiated to demonstrate the feasibility of utilizing pond culture techniques to produce enough Pugnose Shiners to restore them in their native range in New York State. Pugnose Shiners are endangered in New York, being rare in the St. Lawrence and extirpated from Cayuga Lake and most of Lake Ontario. A recovery program was initiated utilizing brood-stock from Sodus Bay, Lake Ontario. Sodus Bay contains the last remaining New York "lake" population, which are genetically distinct from the St. Lawrence River population. In April 2015, a small number of fish were collected for disease certification. On 24 June 2015, another 65 shiners were captured for stocking in a 2/3-acre pond in the experimental pond complex at the State University of New York, Cobleskill. In spite of the late stocking date and low brood-stock number, Pugnose Shiners spawned and produced hundreds of juveniles. By December the pond cultured population was 41 mm long and nearly as large as the spawning population of Pugnose Shiners taken from Sodus Bay in May (below).  By the end of August 2016, thousands of pond reared Pugnose Shiners were available for stocking. This project demonstrated the feasibility of pond culture of Pugnose Shiners, and it's potential for producing thousands of juveniles a year for restoring extirpated wild populations. Culture techniques refined by this project may also be applicable to Minnesota, Wisconsin and Canada, where this species is of special concern, threatened or endangered.