The Restoration of the Gilt Darter to New York's Allegheny River Watershed

The gilt darter (Percina evides) was extirpated from NY’s Allegheny River watershed over 75 years ago due to water quality degradation and habitat loss. In recent decades NY’s Allegheny watershed has undergone significant improvements and now provides suitable gilt darter habitat. However, natural restoration of gilt darters in the NY’s Allegheny watershed is prevented by the Kinzua Dam and the Allegheny Reservoir, which blocks the upstream movements of northern Allegheny River, PA populations. In 2008, through the combined efforts of the State University of New York at Cobleskill, Conservation Fisheries, Inc., N.Y. State Dept. of Environmental Conservation, Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, the Seneca Nation and US Fish & Wildlife Service, a restoration project was initiated using hatchery reared and wild caught fish. Gilt darters captured from the Allegheny River at East Brady, PA passed the fish health inspection and were numerous enough to support this project. Darters from this source were used for translocation and to develop spawning protocols at Conservation Fisheries Inc, and grow-out techniques at SUNY Cobleskill resulting in the stocking of 2,339 gilt darters in 2012-2013. Translocation and propagation techniques refined in this project could apply to gilt darter restoration in Illinois, Iowa and Ohio.