The South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks plans to stock approximately 7,000–10,000 Atlantic salmon, 8-10 inches in length, at Whitlock Bay on Lake Oahe this fall.
The primary objective for this potential stocking is to provide additional salmon fishing opportunities in Lake Oahe. Chinook salmon are stocked yearly in Lake Oahe and have been since the mid-1980s.
Hatchery biologists at McNenny and Cleghorn State Fish hatcheries have spent the last two years researching the feasibility of raising Atlantic salmon in South Dakota. Research indicates these slow-growing fish can be raised in South Dakota’s hatcheries, but a substantial number of eggs are necessary each year to develop a stocking program similar to what the department does for Chinook salmon.
GFP fish hatchery and stocking program administrator Will Sayler says biologists will study the success of this introductory stocking into Lake Oahe to determine if enough adult salmon return to the Whitlock Bay Spawning Station to then provide adequate eggs for the future and if the Atlantic salmon are being caught by anglers. He says a second stocking of 7,000–10,000 Atlantic salmon will also likely be done in the fall of 2019 to allow for further evaluation– which could take up to two to three years.
GFP first sought public input on this effort in 2014 for a potential stocking to take place in 2016. That stocking did not happen due to difficulties in obtaining fish eggs.
