October 22, 2009
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DEC restocks indigenous fish population at Ridgebury Lake
 DEC officials examine bass before placing them in the lake |
It re-introduced largemouth bass, crappies and crayfish population, which had been in danger due to the invasive and predatory Northeastern Snakehead. That species had begun to populate the lake and was subsequently eradicated by the DEC through the use of rotenone, which is a naturally occurring root that is toxic to the snakehead.
Willie Janeway, the DEC regional director, said the Snakehead is a rather nasty breed.
“There is really nothing to stop these fish from going into the Hudson, up the Hudson, into the Canal system, and across the entire state, which is why it was so important that we eliminate the invasive Snakehead here and follow up and restore with the natural fish populations,” he said.
Janeway said the cost of this project was less than $10,000 and came out of a fund specifically set aside to handle this problem when it began two years ago, well before the budget crisis.
The Northeastern Snakehead has also been found in some of the freshwater
locations in Staten Island, but are contained and samples were taken and
all efforts made to be certain that the invasive species was no longer
in the lake.
Local Fisheries Director Michael Flaherty and John Clark of Northeastern
Aquatics, the hatchery where the endangered species of fish were bred,
restocked 1,500 largemouth bass, 1,200 crayfish, 1,500 yellow perch and
1,000 crayfish into the lake.
That accounted for only half of the amount being used to repopulate the
lake, the balance of which will be brought by the middle of next month.
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