SEAFWA Journal Volume 7, March 2020

New supervisory biologists can find themselves tasked with operational responsibilities (e.g., personnel, budgets, procurement, safety) with limited formal training in those areas. This sometimes sudden role change can be jolting, but it need not be debilitating. Here we present information and guidance on various topics ranging from recruiting new personnel and conducting performance evaluations to maintaining a sound safety program as well as confronting legal considerations regarding personal and institutional liabilities for job-related issues. Often, your first task as the new...

Catfish are highly regarded by recreational anglers as sportfish in some areas of North America and are intensively managed by fisheries biologists. Accurate population metrics (e.g., growth, mortality, recruitment, age, and size at maturity) are essential to manage these fisheries, which relies on accurate age estimates for fish in these populations. When otoliths are used for age estimation, they are typically sectioned or ground in a transverse plane, but otolith preparation prior to sectioning may differ. Browning otoliths prior to sectioning to help distinguish annuli has been used by...

Te Central Georgia Bear Population (CGBP) is of special conservation concern due to its relatively small population size and isolation from other bear populations in the southeastern United States. Plans to widen Georgia State Route (SR) 96, which bisects the CGBP, have potential to negatively impact the population. Highway underpasses are being planned to mitigate these impacts. During 2012-2015, we captured and ftted 63 American black bears (Ursus americanus) with global-positioning-system collars and used remote, infrared cameras to document bear crossings along SR 96. We evaluated...

Hunting white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) with dogs (herein, dog-deer hunting) has been steeped in tradition and controversy. Today in the United States, dog-deer hunting for white-tailed deer only occurs in nine states of the Southeast. We reviewed hunting regulations and primary literature, interviewed state-agency biologists, and simulated deer movements on national forests to investigate the current status of dog-deer hunting and develop recommendations for best practices to manage methods associated with the tradition. We recommend: 1) developing plans for consistent...

Environmental and anthropogenic stimuli can impact a variety of species' behavioral ecology. White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) re- spond both spatially and temporally to various types of disturbance; however, our understanding of how disturbance impacts deer behavior is typically regulated to studies where white-tailed deer are the targeted species. We used GPS data collected from female white-tailed deer (n=10) to evaluate space use in response to small game hunting activities based on whether an individual was within the hunted area (actively disturbed) or outside (passively...

The mourning dove (Zenaida macroura; hereafter dove) is among the most iconic symbols for hunting in the southeastern United States. Con-servation and management of this species is a priority for many state wildlife management agencies. Annual banding efforts are one of the main meth-ods used to measure survival and recovery rates, which aid in harvest management recommendations. We examined a number of dove captures using five different bait types over a two-year period in southwestern Louisiana and performed a banding cost analysis. We found milo to be the most efficient bait for banding...

Bridgewater Tailrace (BWTR) is a 29-km waterway extending from Lake James to Lake Rhodhiss on the Catawba River in western North Carolina. An 18-km reach of the stream is classified as Special Regulation Trout Waters by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC)and is managed as a put-grow-and-take brown trout (Salmo trutta) fishery. Early studies demonstrated recruitment of stocked fingerling (25?75 mmTL) brown trout was highly variable and possibly impacted by elevated discharge water temperatures during late summer months. Recent upgrades to Bridgewater Hydro Station...

Species richness, abundance, and genetic variability often decrease in bird populations when their habitats are subjected to anthropogenic activity. Regular and early monitoring of genetic diversity can give researchers and wildlife managers insight into the genetic health of populations so that action can be taken before inbreeding, loss of disease resistance, and population declines occur. We measured genetic diversity in populations of avian species that are increasingly exposed to anthropogenic changes. We analyzed samples from 89 individual birds from three locations in Gwinnett...

Trail cameras were deployed from 1 October 2015 through 30 September 2016 to measure angling effort at three lakes on the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission Sandhills Game Lands. Images were quantified via computer software and analyses were conducted to assess total angling effort as well as temporal (e.g., AM vs. PM, weekday vs. weekend, and seasonal effort), angling method (boat vs. bank), and demographic (male vs. female, youth vs. adult) calculations. Indian Camp Lake was the most used site by anglers throughout the study (1640.3 ± 32.2 angler-h) followed by Crappie Lake (...

Research on alligator gar (Atractosteus spatula) has increased during the last two decades; however, assessments of reproduction, growth, and recruitment remain limited for reservoir populations. We collected a total of 562 alligator gar from Falcon Reservoir, Texas, in 2014 and 2018 to estimate onset of maturity, fecundity, timing of spawning, and growth. Additionally, we modeled the relationship between spawning habitat availability and strong year-class occurrence. Age of maturity (50% mature) was 5.6 years for females and 1.2 years for males. Fecundity ranged from 79,518 to 530,398 and...