Warmwater Stream Committee
Southern Division, American Fisheries Society
Roundtable Discussion - February 13, 2003
Wilmington, North Carolina
 

Frank Fiss - Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency - Smallmouth bass plan “Draft” available for comment by public. www.tnwildlife.org under Fisheries page. The recent warmwater creel survey report is on the same website under fisheries page\streams page. Smallmouth bass genetics work is nearly complete comparing populations among watersheds, including reservoirs and unregulated (“isolated”) streams. Perhaps a good paper for WWSC symposium. WWSC video has been distributed to the most obvious groups. Now the challenge will be for our chapter to reach the other groups.

Dennis Riecke - Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries & Parks - Voluntary scenic streams program is slowly expanding when the landowners do not view it as the first step in a government plan to control actions on their land. Conducting a survey of channel catfish populations in 12 streams to determine size structure, condition factors, CPUE in slat baskets, hoop nets and trotlines. Standard sampling guidelines being revised to include stream sampling techniques.

Chris O’Bara - West Virginia Dept. of Natural Resources - Working with VA on walleye genetics project on a river. Pisteria-like kill on same river. Using PIT tags on muskie in 2 rivers w/Muskies Inc. Completed Ohio R. paddlefish plan. Final stages of Percid project on Ohio R. New genetic stock of walleye on Upper Ohio R. Some shovelnose sturgeon work. Smallmouth and Largemouth Bass projects. Statewide mercury survey finished. 1 million dollar fish passage study on Ohio river with 6 states, 4 universities. Winter habitat study on Ohio R. with So. Illinois U and West Virginia U.

Dan Catchings - Alabama Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources - AL Power Co. relicensing by 2005 they must file for 6 impoundments on Coosa R., 2 on Black Warrior R. Alternative relicensing procedure. Flows to restore river habitat on Weiss R. bypass reach. Recreational issues - angler access; water quality issues - erosion and T & E species. Having monthly meetings since major decisions need to be made this year. LMBV surveys on reservoirs – 20-30% positive on east side of state. Start studying Terrapin Creek — intensive fish survey — with USGS to do IBI work.

Jimmie Evans - Georgia Dept. of Natural Resources - ACT/ACF Compact presented but not signed. ACT = Appalachicola, Chatahoochee, Tallapoosa ACF = Alabama, Coosa, Flint

Jan. 2001 proposal – GA & FL proposal process postponed deadline of 7/31/2003. New governor in GA disappointed with process, wants more involvement — wants 3 governors to meet. Main issues are minimum flows at Jim Woodriff Dam (are very low, disturbing but both sides accept it) and caps on consumption in GA. GA will not agree to both, only 1. The caps on consumption are the deal breaker– propose to return 58% of Atlanta’s consumption. No water restrictions on water consumption on Flint River. Major objections are inadequate minimum flows at state line and no limits on consumption.

Elise Irwin - Alabama Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research Unit - Developing a fauna monitoring plan for the ADT/ACF system. W. GA regional reservoir in Tallapoosa R pumping form mainstem to fill reservoir on secondary trib. - Beech creek – 6 fish species of special concern, 1 mussel, 1 crayfish — are listings needed? Lipstick darter could be extirpated if GA if reservoir built. Auburn U workshop on Adaptive Management in tailwaters in April 2003. Using decision support models for the best way to manage river and maximize power company income and recreational opportunities. New project –how Coosa bass react to flows. Do tribs provide Coosa bass for mainstem? Using sonic tags. Evaluating stocking of striped bass in Lower Tallapoosa R. OTC marking of small channel catfish – no catfish recruitment. Aquatic GAP — stay tuned– species at risk— hierarchical basin models.

Elise proposing to Excom tomorrow to establish an Ad Hoc Catfish Technical Committee

Christian Waters - North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission - Cape Fear R. fish passage project at COE Lock & Dam built a bypass channel around dam instead of pilling rip rap below dam. 5years shoreline stabilization project finished. Rip rap better than natural shorelines (examined density, diversity and size distribution) both beat bulkheads but current regulations favor bulkheads. Examining effects of Hurricane Floyd on bass. IBI (boat mounted) work is ongoing, enough data to begin rating rivers. Since 1998, stocking striped bass and OTC marked American Shad. Have management plans for Flathead catfish and Striped Bass.

Don Orth - Virginia Tech U.- Success with RiverCap - ADP – it measures continuous velocity profile, bottom type, depth to verify what engineers always say “here’s what velocity should be”.

Mercury uptake in aquatic food web. What long-term data sets exist? He needs to know. Ammonia levels in warmwater streams — long term data sets — levels may be toxic to juvenile mussels.

Paul Balkenbush - Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation - March 1998 – stream project begins with 1 employee, now we have 3 full time and 3 part time employees. They work exclusively on streams . James Vincent won the ODWC Employee of the Year award and the Oklahoma Chapter Fishery Worker of the Year award. Randy Hyler is President-Elect of the Oklahoma Chapter.

USFWS & ODWC working on renovating and removal of low water crossings for fish movement, how do changes in bridges affect stream morphology. Restoring tailwater habitat work in Lower Mountain Fork and Lower Illinois rivers. Thermal problem in tailwaters, ways to improve trout densities in tailwaters. Using USFWS funds to for stream restoration projects — rock banks and cedar T revetments. Working to change WHIP to include fish. Smallmouth bass genetic research. Instream flow issues ---- TX wants OK water. Bill Layher working on an instream flow study there.

Tom Kwak - North Carolina Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit - Joe Hightower doing anadromous fish work, using side scanning sonar to measure fish spawning runs and comparing info with fish wheel data. Dam removal assessment on Neuse R. New project on shad restoration on Ronanke R. Electrofishing injury study on Cape Fear Shiner. You can safely electrofish these species. Huge introduced flathead catfish project — estimating population size, food habits, HSI, movements. New project on new species of redhorses that are being described (cyclefin redhorse). Spring viremia virus issue ---- found in chubs, other cyprinids have antibodies and do not get the disease. Paper in transactions – long term changes in White R. fish populations ---- 5 years after impoundment is not a sufficient time period to ID changes in river fisheries. River had good smallmouth bass population but now has good trout populations.

Chris Thomason - South Carolina Dept. of Natural Resources - Dept is reorganizing. New stream survey statewide. Last such survey was in late 1970's. Draft plans on sampling schedule, techniques, data handling, making data available to the public. Tons of FERC relicensing — flows, water quality, fish passage, habitat. Working on anadromous species — American shad, sturgeon and tying those to FREC relicensing. Reintroduction of robust redhorse, trying to prevent species from being listed as threatened or endangered.

John Copeland - Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries - Have done smallmouth bass studies on major rivers for 7 years. High end slot limits on some river sections. Slots will be evaluated. New River has a 5 bass creel with a 14-20 inch slot with 1 fish harvest over 20". Correlation paper for smallmouth. Modeling paper on smallmouth regulations. Major outreach this summer on Shenandoah River – float trip for politicians with stops and talks and will be filmed for TV. Biologists on watershed roundtables. Catfish studies on some rivers. District biologists are surveying streams where data is lacking. New study possible on Roanoke Bass.