The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation will hold three public meetings to discuss Lake Ontario fisheries next month.

Niagara, Monroe and Oswego counties will host the State of Lake Ontario meetings that allow citizens to interact with scientists who study the fisheries and scientists will report on the status of these fisheries.

Biologists from the DEC and U.S. Geological Survey will make presentations covering many areas, including updates on trout and salmon fisheries and the status of the Lake Ontario Sportfishing Restoration Program projects that are funded by a natural resources damage settlement.

According to the DEC, Lake Ontario is home to huge populations of fish, including trout and salmon, bass, walleye, yellow perch and panfish. In 2007, a survey conducted found that 2.6 million angler days were spent on Lake Ontario and major tributaries.

Lake Ontario fishing also has a tremendous economic benefit, with an estimated $112 million value to local communities.

The three meetings are as follows:

7 to 10 p.m. Tuesday March 9 at the Oswego County BOCES, 179 County Route 64, Mexico. For more information, contact Dan Bishop of the DEC Cortland office at (607) 753-3095.

7 to 10 p.m. Wednesday March 10 at the Imaging Sciences Auditorium in Chester F. Carlson Building (76) on the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) campus in Rochester. For more information, contact Web Pearsall in the DEC Avon office at (585) 226-5339.

6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Tuesday March 16 at the Cornell Cooperative Extension Building, 4487 Lake Avenue, Lockport (Niagara County). For more information, contact Paul McKeown in the DEC Allegany sub-office at (716) 372-0645 or Mike Wilkinson in the DEC Buffalo office at (716) 851-7010.