Fisher populations in the Adirondack area are declining, while populations in the southern and western parts of the New York state are increasing. That's why the Department of Environmental Conservation has begun studying the animal's reproduction rates. 

Fisher are a member of the weasel family. They are related to mink and skunks, and are popular with trappers for their fur.

"We’re dissecting some fisher reproductive tracks and we’re using that information to try to gain a fertility index for fisher in New York state and this is being used by the DEC for a wider population estimate across the state," said Amy Wittmeyer, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry student. 

She and Aberdeen White are preparing the ovaries from more than 400 fishers to create slides for microscopic examination.

"We are looking at reproductive tracks and analyzing through scarring whether fertility might be a problem or a difference between different populations," Wittmeyer said. 

When the trappers catch a fisher in a trap, they are required to turn over the reproductive tracks to the DEC. The samples are from regions in the Adirondacks and Albany and the Hudson Valley area.

This study is just getting underway so it will be awhile before there’s enough data to draw any conclusions.