Submitted by Craig Springer <Craig_Springer@fws.gov> --- > Shovelnose sturgeon return to Ohio waters > Private-public partnership brings native fish back after 50-year hiatus > Craig Springer, USFWS > The month of May is a pivotal season in Ohio, the fulcrum from the > cold and wet spring, to the sweltering summer sure to follow. Dogwoods > spatter their white blossoms across the hillsides, and the edges of upland > streams are dotted with gravelly smallmouth bass nests. Turkey hunters > take to the woods. It all happens about the same time every year, like > nature's clockwork. But this May, beneath surface of the Scioto River, > something new may be going on for the first time in half a century: > sturgeon spawning. > Thanks to a private-public partnership, shovelnose sturgeon have come > back to the Buckeye state after nearly a 50-year hiatus. It's considered > an endangered species by the state of Ohio. > Water pollution and locks and dams eliminated the fish from the > state. Not only did dams in the Ohio River prevent these highly mobile > sturgeon from getting to upstream spawning habitats, the flat water > impoundments behind them offer no habitat. If form follows function, then > the shovelnose sturgeon is the prototype for a body form shaped for fast > water. The spindly body and flat wedge-shaped snout allow the fish to take > up station in fast-flowing chutes as it peruses the bottom for insects, > snails, mussels and crayfish - prey quite vulnerable to water pollution. > But opportunity knocks. > According to ODOW biologist, Scott Schell, who leads the effort to > restore this native fish, the Scioto River is cleaner now than it has been > in decades. Moreover, the section of the Scioto where the shovelnose > sturgeon were stocked has the largest number of fish and macroinvertebrate > species than any other Ohio stream - and that speaks to high-quality > habitat. The first dam on the Scioto that can block fish movement is 153 > miles above its mouth on the Ohio River in the city of Columbus, and that > means the shovelnose sturgeon will have room to roam. > The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's Carterville Fishery Resources > Office, located in Marion, Illinois, routinely monitors shovelnose sturgeon > populations in the lower Ohio and Mississippi rivers, where the species is > much more abundant, and even affords commercial and recreational fisheries. > It's these surveys that provide a source of sturgeon for the ODOW. > The five-year reintroduction effort is in its third year. Only 35 > shovelnose sturgeon made it to the Scioto River in 2002; this spring 153 > fish made the trip from near Paducah, Kentucky, to Circleville, Ohio. Last > year the USFWS shipped sac-fry to ODOW's Kincaid State Fish Hatchery where > the sturgeon were grown out and stocked into the Scioto. > Those young fish were the product of an unusual partnership involving > state and federal governments, private enterprise and academia. > "The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been the ligament - the > connective tissue that pulled this partnership together," said Greg > Conover, the USFWS fishery biologist who leads sturgeon surveys on the Ohio > and Mississippi rivers. > Conover provided adult fish to Logan Hollow Fish Farm in Murphysboro, > Illinois, a private commercial hatchery working with Southern Illinois > University on early life history studies of shovelnose sturgeon. Some of > the offspring went to university researchers, the others went to the ODOW. > The partnership will provide more young fish over the next two years. > All of the young fish put in the Scioto River will be marked with an > injected liquid-plastic tag visible just under the skin on the snout. > Three years from now when biologists seek to measure success, they'll look > for young shovelnose sturgeon without marks - fish spawned in the wild. > "Biologists almost always want to get returns on tagged fish," said > Conover. "But in this case, when shovelnose sturgeon show up without those > little flourescent tags on their snouts, we'll know our partnership has > paid dividends - wild sturgeon." > While it may be a number of years before Ohio anglers can set a trot > line or deadline fish for shovelnose sturgeon, this private-public > partnership is large step forward. > But first things first says Schell: "After five years of transplants > and stocking, I hope a few adult fish find each other on a riffle and > spawn. That's when we'll know things are working and we're on track." > And that could be the fulcrum in returning this native fish to native > waters, and an opportunity for Buckeye anglers to catch a swimming > dinosaur. > > > > > (See attached file: Don Swatzel - River Backgroud.JPG) > Ohio Division of Wildlife fish biologist, Don Swatzel, shows off an adult > shovelnose sturgeon. ODOW Photo. > > > > (See attached file: Shovelnose Sturgeon Poster.ppt) > > > Ohio Division of Wildlife poster warns anglers about the presence of the > shovelnose sturgeon. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > Christine Manninen > GLIN Webmaster: www.great-lakes.net > --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- > Program Manager, Communications & Internet Technology > Great Lakes Commission > 2805 South Industrial Hwy., Suite #100 > Ann Arbor, MI 48104 > Phone 734.971.9135 ext 112 > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----
Don Swatzel - River Backgroud.JPG
Shovelnose Sturgeon Poster.ppt
