2024: Refining the Selection of Stocked Strains of ‘Wild’ Food Fishes to Enhance Productivity and Nutritional Value
This project will introduce undergraduate researchers to the challenges of maximizing the quantity and quality of food produced under a changing climate, using hatchery-supported lake fisheries as a case study. They will compare growth rates and tissue nutrient content among the six strains of brook trout stocked by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to assess differences among strains from both food system and climate resilience perspectives. These projects will build upon our team’s recent finding that brook trout strains differ in temperature tolerances and that fish from different lakes have highly divergent concentrations of omega-3 fatty acids and heavy metals. Working in a collaborative environment at our Adirondacks field station, students will gain experience with fishery and climate change research methods, and their projects will clarify the potential for adjusting stocking practices to enhance the contribution of trout fisheries to food security in rural, low-income settings.
Faculty Leads: Thomas Detmer and Peter McIntyre (both Natural Resources and the Environment)