Journal of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies

Since the turn of the century the need for a simplified method of capturing wild animals has been recognized. Although various trapping procedures have been successfully employed under a variety of conditions, the potentialities of a drugged dart have warranted considerable speculation. During the past decade extensive investigation has been directed toward perfecting a technique which would immobilize a deer until the proper measures of restraint could be inaugurated. For the acquisition of this aim, two major factors had to be considered. First, an efficient means of inducing a drug into the systemic circulation of an animal was necessary. The instrument for delivery had to be accurate within a reasonable range, and at the same time inflict a minimum of mechanical damage. Secondly, the selection of a drug was of paramount importance. The ideal drug had to possess the following characteristics: 1.

Preliminary studies were conducted on the exotic cichlid, Tilapia mossambica Peters to determine the possibilities of incorporating this fish into the farm ponds and lakes in the Southeast. In an 18-week experiment in concrete ponds, T. mossambica proved to be a more efficient fish than the bluegill, Lepomis macrochirus Raf. In feeding experiments T. mossambica gave 2.97 times greater growth than did the bluegill, in fertilization 1.69 times, and in manuring experiments 1.97 times greater growth than the bluegill. Food habit studies conducted revealed that planktonic forms of plants and animals made up the bulk of the diet under natural conditions. The minimum temperatures tolerated by T. mossambica were determined in a thermostatically controlled cold room. This fish ceased feeding at approximately 600 F., and deaths began at 52 to 5S 0 F. with 100 per cent mortality occurring at 47 to 490 F.

The propagation of most game fish and the methods used in producing them have been more or less established; and with the exception of small details are relatively the same throughout most of the South. The propagation of Channel Catfish (lctalurus lacustris) has from all appearances been more difficult, because of the wide range of methods used and the wide range in cost of production. The demand for Channel Catfish in the state of Arkansas was increasing steadily, and upon my return from the armed services, Mr. Joe Hogan of Lonoke, Ark., encouraged me to try setting up a method of production that would coincide with our hatchery work and at a minimum cost.

Controlled shooting of game birds, as evidenced by recently established preserves in the Southeast, is rapidly increasing in popularity. With a view toward appraising this type of hunting and its role in wildlife management, 100 ringnecked pheasants were released in seven lots on a l20-acre peninsula, Allatoona Lake, Georgia, November 24-27, 1955. Hunting began 30 minutes after the initial release of 24 birds and was sustained for four days, during which 25 hunters, divided into parties of from three to seven guns each, exerted a total gunning pressure of 33 man-days. Each of the seven hunts averaged about three hours in duration. Eighty pheasants were bagged, approximately 2.4 birds per man-day, at a cost of $3.30 per bird, exclusive of ammunition, dogs, transportation and equipment.

The greatest concentrations of fishermen on Kentucky's state-owned lakes have been observed to occur during the first week following the opening of these lakes to fishing. To measure the impact of this surge of fishermen on an unsuspecting fish population, an opening week creel census and tagging study was conducted on 3 dissimilar state-owned lakes. In each lake bass were caught by angling and tagged. Tag returns were remarkably similar: 27%, 30.9%, and 27.5%. Evidence seemed to indicate strap jaw tags adversely affected the growth of tagged bass. In the creel census 70% of the largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides, caught in the first week from the 3 lakes were taken in the first 30 hours. The data indicates largemouth bass have a capacity for learning. The bluegill, Lepomis macrochirus, catch was small. A different opening date is recommended.

Plans for a fall and winter drawdown (1955-56) were carried out on Nimrod, a turbid, flood control lake. The surface acreage was reduced from approximately 3,600 acres to 700 acres. Commercial fishermen removed over 200,000 pounds of rough fish most of which were smallmouth buffalo. Following the drawdown and subsequent filling, the water cleared up and remained clear. An increase in the number and size of young black bass and white bass was recorded with a resultant decrease in the number of young channel catfish, carp, drum and buffalo. Larger numbers of young sunfish and minnows were noted. The fish population, as tabulated by weight, showed a marked change in that the edible forage species (buffalo, drum, etc.) were reduced approximately one-half and the non edible forage species (shad, minnows, etc.) were increased approximately three times. Boat dock operators reported improved sport fishing, especially for small white crappie.

Commercial fishing experiments with 1 1/4- to 1 5/8-inch-bar mesh trammel nets were conducted in fourteen tidal streams of Alabama during 1953 and 1954. The primary objective of these studies was to determine the percentages of the various species of fish taken with small mesh trammel nets in the tidal streams during the months of October through March. A total of 26 sets with trammel nets were made in the streams studied. A total of 65,839 fish, turtles and crabs weighing 56,129.01 pounds was caught during the period of the experiments. Freshwater game fish which included crappie, bluegill, shellcracker, largemouth bass, pickerel, warmouth and yellow bass made up 0.75 percent of this total weight. Speckled trout comprised 3.21 percent and all other commercial and rough species made up 96.04 percent of the total weight.

Although the literature shows several instances where warmwater fishes have been affected by recognizable disease organisms, the problem of warmwater fish diseases has received little notice by investigators. Evidence collected in fish cultural activity at the Marion, Alabama, Station indicates that disease may be an important factor in the successful propagation of bluegill fingerlings and also to some extent in that of largemouth black bass. A case of gill disease among blugills is described and other evidence regarding unexplained mortality among both bluegills and largemouth black bass is discussed. The need for a comprehensive study of the problem of warmwater fish diseases is emphasized.

Four similar one-quarter-acre ponds were stocked with 1,500 bluegill, Lepomis macrochirus Rafinesque, and 100 largemouth black bass, Micropterus salmoides (Lacepede), fingerlings per acre in the spring of 1950. Two of the ponds were enclosed with board fences and stocked with slider turtles, Pseudemys scripta scripta (Schoepff) at the rate of 100 per acre. The four experimental ponds were fertilized and managed identically. The ponds were drained in the fall of 1950, and the average yield of fish in the ponds containing turtles was compared to that in the control ponds. It was found that the average yield of fish in the ponds containing slider turtles was approximately 258 pounds per acre while in the control ponds it was 264 pounds per acre. The contents of 58 slider turtle stomachs that were trapped from various ponds in Central Alabama were analyzed and it was found that the food consisted of approximately 80 percent vegetable matter and 20 percent animal matter.