Kevin J. Dockendorf

On 18 September 2003, Hurricane Isabel inundated northeastern North Carolina with heavy winds, rain, and storm surge that flushed high BOD organic materials and anoxic water from the floodplains adjacent to the lower Roanoke River and its tributaries into the river proper. Dissolved oxygen levels rapidly decreased and remained at or near 0 mg L-1 for 12 days causing an extensive fish kill throughout 25 km of the lower Roanoke River. Using boat-mounted electrofishing gear, we had surveyed fish assemblages at three fixed sampling sites on the lower Roanoke River during the summers of 2001...

Significant declines in American shad (Alosa sapidissima) populations have warranted restoration efforts by natural resource agencies along the Atlantic coast. In 1998, the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission developed a restoration plan for declining stocks of American shad in the Roanoke River. One strategy in the plan was to supplement wild American shad reproduction with annual stockings of hatchery-reared American shad fry. The fry were marked with a discrete oxytetracycline (OTC) mark specific to the stocking year and stocking location in the upper Roanoke River basin. Total...