A comparison of littoral fish diversity and size in Otsego Lake in 1986 and 1998

Fish were collected from four sites on Otsego Lake on 3 and 4 August 98 to describe littoral populations and diversity and to make a comparison with a similar study conducted in 1986. A haul seine was used to catch the fish, which were marked, weighed, measured and released. The Peterson mark-recapture method was used to estimate abundance at the four sites. Margalefs diversity index was used to compare sites and years. Diversity varied between sites in both years, and some sites varied between years. The number of fish caught in 1998 (14, range=7-l3 per site), compared to 1986 (II, range=7-ll per site) indicates that species richness has increased. There are several more species of fish in the shallow areas of Otsego Lake and the populations of some species now have expended distributions. Other population distributions have decreased and total captures at some sites declined. Some species found in 1986 were not found at any of the sites this year.