Journal of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies

Saugeye are hatchery produced hybrids (female walleye [Sander vitreus] and male sauger [S. canadensis]) that have been introduced to aquatic systems throughout the United States. The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (ODWC) stocks reservoirs throughout Oklahoma with saugeye to control overcrowded, stunted white crappie (Pomoxis annularis) populations and to provide recreational fishing opportunities. Because sacrificing fish regularly to remove otoliths for age estimation is often unpopular with anglers, a non-lethal means of obtaining age estimates for saugeye to describe population dynamics is desirable. Therefore, we compared age estimate precision between readers and structures (otoliths and dorsal spines), and compared age-based population parameters (growth, mortality, recruitment) derived from these age estimates. Structures were removed from 47 saugeye collected from Thunderbird Reservoir, Oklahoma via electro fishing.

In the 1970s and 1980s, blue catfish (Ictalurus furcatus) were introduced to the tidal rivers of Virginia. Current abundances and uncertainty about population characteristics of blue catfish generated concern for other economically important and imperiled species. We estimated natural mortality and size structure of blue catfish for four tidal river systems (i.e., James, Mattaponi, Pamunkey and Rappahannock). Using common empirical estimators with pooled data from the period 2002-2016, we calculated five estimates of natural mortality. Proportional size distributions were used to examine changes in size structure over time. Maximum observed age of 25 years indicated mature populations. Estimated mean instantaneous natural mortality (M) from five empirical estimators ranged from 0.13-0.19 in the four rivers. Temporal trends in size structure differed among rivers, likely due to differences in stocking timing and riverine productivity.

Blue catfish (Ictalurus furcatus) are native to the Coosa River drainage in northwest Georgia but have been widely introduced outside of this range including Lake Oconee, a 7677-ha impoundment on the Oconee River in central Georgia. Blue catfish abundance and growth rates have increased dramatically since their introduction in Lake Oconee, but their food habits are unknown. Therefore, food habits of blue catfish in this impoundment were determined by examining the stomachs of 808 specimens in the reservoir's upper and lower regions across all seasons from summer 2012 to summer 2013. Diet was summarized using the Relative Importance of specific prey by weight. In the upper region of the reservoir, Asian clams (Corbicula fluminea) were the dominant prey item during the summer (75.7%), fall (66.4%), and winter (37.6%); whereas crappie (Pomoxis spp.) was the dominant prey item in the spring (38.7%).

The New River, Virginia, supports a trotline fishery for catfish (Ictaluridae) that coexists with popular recreational fisheries for smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu), muskellunge (Esox masquinongy), and walleye (Sander vitreus), yet no studies have examined trotline catches or bycatch of these game fish. Trotline effort was estimated by conducting off-site interviews of trotline fishers and field counts of active trotlines. Catch of catfish and bycatch were estimated with experimental trotline sets that used circle or J hooks and two bait types (i.e., live or cut bait). Catch averaged 12.1 catfish 100 hook nights-1. Experimental trotline sets baited with live bait fish captured predominantly channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) and flathead catfish (Pylodictis olivaris) but caught few smallmouth bass, muskellunge, or walleye. Cutbait caught fewer catfish, particularly flathead catfish, and fewer non-catfish species than live bait.

Stress is unavoidable in aquaculture and hence strains of fish that are resilient and adaptable to stress need to be developed. In teleosts, cortisol is considered the primary stress hormone and often increases in cortisol concentration correspond to a stress response. The objective of this study was to assess if cortisol responsiveness to stress in channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) influences susceptibility to Enteric Septicemia of Catfish (ESC) caused by Edwardsiella ictaluri under controlled conditions. Juvenile channel catfish were subjected to standardized hypoxia stress (1.8 mg L-1 of dissolved oxygen) to classify them as either low responders (LR) or high responders (HR) based on their plasma cortisol concentration. Fish in both groups were held either in individual or co-cultured in 80-L aquaria and were challenged with virulent E. ictaluri by an in situ bath immersion to evaluate their susceptibility to the pathogen.

Angling participation has stagnated or declined in many regions, threatening the political and financial support for fisheries management. Angler recruitment programs aim to counteract these trends, but most are public programs targeting public water bodies. There are about 4.5 million small ponds and lakes in the United States, most of which are privately owned. These systems may play a major yet hidden role in angler recruitment. Using an online survey of avid pond owners and managers, we explored the ideas that private waters are providing youth angling opportunities, increasing fishing participation, and contributing to angler recruitment. Survey results indicated that pond owners are engaged in angler recruitment and retention by providing youth fishing opportunities to friends and family beyond that generally available in traditional recruiting events on public waters.

A new tool to provide wetland services is the floating streambed wetland (FSW), an active hydroponic system consisting of a polymer matrix floating substrate in which living plants are established. Water is circulated from beneath the FSW and across a streambed on the upper FSW surface, coming into contact with biofilms attached to the polymer matrix and associated root structures. Research has shown that FSW technology is efficient in removing nutrients and water contaminants, and recent manufacturer reports claim that FSW technology may also increase total fish biomass in small water bodies. We evaluated this claim using a replicated small (526 m2) pond experiment and FSWs that covered 2.3% of pond surface area.

Earthen hatchery pond sediments may provide additional nutrients to the water column and act as a sink for nutrients and excess fertilizer. In 2008 and again in 2013 soil nutrient concentrations and phosphorus (P) adsorption were examined in five earthen ponds at Minor Clark Fish Hatchery, Kentucky. These ponds are annually filled with oligotrophic water from an upstream reservoir, fertilized, and drained during normal hatchery operations. Over time, pond nitrogen (N) and P additions have not kept up with soil losses. Soil extractable P concentrations decreased about an order of magnitude between 2008 and 2013. Soil %N decreased by nearly 50% over the same time period. Other soil nutrients (organic carbon, calcium, and manganese) remained the same. Soil collected in 2008 desorbed P under normal fish rearing water quality conditions.

Resource selection by female white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and their offspring during the fawning season can influence survival and recruitment. The selection process in females is thought to represent the balancing of often competing demands to minimize predation risk and maximize resource availability to support the energetic demands of lactation. We used a distance-based approach to examine selection of fawn-rearing areas and locations within fawning areas for 20 radio-instrumented female white-tailed deer on Tensas River National Wildlife Refuge, Louisiana. We also examined selection of vegetative attributes at parturition sites (n = 20) and fawn bed sites (n = 106). Females selected fawn-rearing areas nearer to agriculture than expected given their home ranges, but within their fawn-rearing areas, females were located farther from agriculture and reforestation than expected.

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) populations located at the mouth of the Mississippi River are of historical significance as they have been a major source for restocking in Louisiana since the 1960s. Apparent population declines of these deer since the 1990s led the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries to initiate a study to gather demographic data on white-tailed deer on the 46,540-ha Pass-a-Loutre Wildlife Management Area (PALWMA). We captured and individually marked 57 deer on PALWMA from 2007 to 2012. We monitored travel corridors using un-baited trail cameras and recorded all sightings of marked and unmarked individuals until 2014. We collected 4,325 photographic observations of white-tailed deer with 340 (8%) resightings of individually marked deer. Estimated apparent annual survival for female and male white-tailed deer was 0.48 ± 0.07 and 0.78 ± 0.06, respectively.

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginanus) are the most sought after game species in Kentucky. Deer numbers in southeast Kentucky are relatively low compared to other areas of the state, even after a decade of restrictive doe harvest and prior population supplementation. We estimated survival and assessed cause-specific mortality of a representative deer population in this low-density area within or near the Redbird District of the Daniel Boone National Forest in southeastern Kentucky from January 2014-January 2017. Estimated annual survival for does averaged 0.89 and was relatively high compared to similar studies. Deer-vehicle collisions and poaching caused 13 of 18 (72%) deaths. We recommend longer-term studies at these and other sites in this area to better understand deer population dynamics and their relationship to important habitat components so as to inform regional management of this important game species.

Most state wildlife agencies collect harvest data to inform management decisions. However, these data are typically considered across relatively short time periods and are rarely revisited. We present a case study using historical records to investigate potential agents (i.e., harvest, predation, and forest change) influencing the declining white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) population in the north Georgia mountains. We used long-term black bear (Ursus americanus) and deer harvest data, and indices of forest stand conditions from 1979-2015 on eight Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) in the north Georgia mountains. During 1979-2015, harvest of male and female deer declined by 85% and 97%, respectively. Over the same time period, mean yearling male deer body weight increased by 21%, mean antler diameter increased by 62%, and mean antler beam length increased by 92%.

Eastern wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris; hereafter, turkeys) are widely recognized throughout the southeastern United States as a species of ecological, recreational, aesthetic, and economic importance. As a game species, male turkeys are most popularly hunted during spring, a timeframe coinciding with breeding and nesting activities. Given this period's biological importance, wildlife managers are challenged to avoid negative population effects from harvest while simultaneously providing quality hunting opportunities. Biological considerations associated with timing spring turkey seasons include potential effects on productivity from early and high male harvest and intentional or inadvertent illegal female harvest. Turkey hunters often request spring seasons timed to maximize exposure to gobbling activity, but these sociological considerations may conflict with biological objectives.

Management techniques to improve wildlife populations often can affect non-target species indirectly. Supplemental feeding for northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) has become a popular management technique to improve bobwhite recruitment and survival, but potential impacts on non-target species such as eastern wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) are unknown. We deployed 111 global positioning systems on wild turkeys on the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources Webb Wildlife Management Area Complex during 2014-2016 to evaluate if supplemental feeding for quail impacted wild turkey movement ecology. Turkeys which used areas where supplemental feeding had occurred maintained larger ranges before, during, and after hunting season. Ranges of individuals that used the treatment area in 2014 before feeding occurred were larger than individuals' ranges that overlapped the treatment area after feeding began, but differences were minimal (<16 ha).

The Mississippi Alluvial Valley (MAV) had extensive bottomland hardwood forests but less than 25% of this area remains forested today. Impounded greentree reservoirs (GTRs), have been managed for wintering waterfowl since the 1930s, and provide a source of aquatic invertebrates and acorns for foraging ducks and other wildlife. However, few studies of invertebrate community-composition, diversity, and biomass have been conducted at regional scales. We collected samples of aquatic invertebrates from three hardwood bottomlands in the MAV and one in the Mississippi Interior Flatwoods region during winters 2008-09 and 2009-10. We compared community composition metrics of aquatic invertebrates between naturally flooded forests (NFF) and GTRs. Five families occurred more frequently in GTRs than NFFs (P < 0.01); these were Asellidae, Chironomidae, Cragonyctidae, Daphniidae, and Sphaeriidae.

Researchers have used playback as an effective survey tool for ornithological research and monitoring, but amateur use is controversial because of potential negative effects on birds. Despite limited peer-reviewed research on this technique, conservation organizations worldwide have limited or banned the use of playback. Some birders use “pishing” (vocal imitation of avian alarm calls) as an alternative to playback. We investigated the effects of simulated birder playback and pishing on the behavior of wintering birds in northern Louisiana. Four experimental treatments were performed at each of six sites: baseline (no birder), control (birder present—no sound), pishing (birder pished five times), and playback (birder played three pre-recorded bird songs). Our order of presentation of each experimental treatment was varied at each site to control for habituation of birds.

Watersnakes serve a variety of important roles in aquatic ecosystems with many species being of conservation interest. The northern water- snake (Nerodia sipedon) has some populations of concern, but is found in a wide variety of aquatic habitats throughout North America. Although previous studies have examined the diet of this typically piscivorous species, research has not addressed whether the northern watersnake is preferentially selecting particular fish as prey. In this study, we sampled snake stomach contents and used Chesson's alpha selection index (αi) to investigate whether northern watersnakes are eating fish families in proportion to their availability or are preferentially selecting or avoiding specific fish families. At the Sloughs Wildlife Management Area in western Kentucky, the northern watersnake fed on fish from six families in 2013 (n = 15) and 2014 (n = 36).

Population projection models are applied tools for considering the potential effects of land and population management alternatives. Incorporating spatially explicit processes and individual dynamics into these models can be important when assessing viability for relatively small populations in patchy habitats. We developed a spatially explicit, individual-based population simulation model (IBM) for gopher tortoises (Gopherus polyphemus) incorporating demographic rates from published studies throughout the range of the species. We then demonstrated this approach's utility for evaluating potential viability under projected forest management with and without tortoise population augmentation on two areas of state-managed property in southern Alabama. Under all scenarios, projected populations declined to local extinction within 100-200 years.

Longleaf pine (LLP, Pinus palustris) has been reduced to 3-5% of its original range, but may be particularly resilient to conditions associated with climate change including drought, severe storms, and increased prevalence of pests. Despite the critical role of LLP in building climate resilient ecosystems, little is known about how landscape managers in the region have considered climate change in planning efforts. We gathered 83 publicly accessible natural resource management plans from the southeastern United States that included management of LLP ecosystems between 1999 and 2016. We used document analysis to identify how plans addressed climate change threats on LLP, considered climate change in identification of LLP ecosystems, and linked climate change to planned conservation actions for LLP ecosystems.

In 2011, the Texas state legislature legalized hand fishing as a harvest method for cat fish in Texas. Although large cat fish (>600 mm total length [TL]) are expected to be vulnerable to this fishing method, little is known about hand fishers or their harvest practices. To help make informed management decisions and better understand how hand fishers compare to other Texas' cat fish anglers, we surveyed hand fishers to collect information on their demographics and fishing activities. Survey respondents (n = 118) were primarily preexisting cat fish fishermen who already utilized other gear types to fish for cat fish; only 5.6% of respondents exclusively hand shed. Despite expressing a willingness to use other gear types, 40% of respondents (n = 47) considered hand fishing their most important fishing activity. Respondents indicated they hand shed a median of 15 days annually, primarily during the spawning period.

Alligator gar (Atractosteus spatula) exhibit many characteristics of a periodic life-history strategy, including extended longevity, late maturity, high fecundity, and variable recruitment success. Observations of alligator gar spawning events indicate that recruitment in inland waters may be linked to spring and summer flood pulses and the availability of floodplain spawning habitats. However, because data have mostly come from observation and not formal experimentation, it is unknown whether these data represent true requirements or if they simply reflect conditions that were easily observed. Therefore, we reviewed existing data regarding alligator gar spawning and early development to draft habitat suitability criteria related to recruitment success and then tested these criteria against historic annual recruitment variability (i.e., year-class strength) in the Trinity River and Choke Canyon Reservoir, Texas.

Coastal rivers can support quality largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) fishing, but recruitment failure and habitat availability can influence population size and structure because of the dynamic nature of these systems. Stocking success in coastal river systems has been rarely evaluated. is study examined stocking success of oxytetracycline (OTC) marked F1 intergrade Florida (M.s. oridanus) and northern (M.s. salmoides) fingerling largemouth bass in the tidal Chickahominy River, Virginia. Fish were stocked at a density of 62 fish ha-1 in spring 2006 (mean TL = 54 mm) and 2007 (mean TL=51 mm). We used standardized long-term electro fishing and creel surveys to assess individual cohorts and temporal population trends among various size groups. We determined percent contribution by analyzing otoliths for OTC to differentiate between stocked and wild large- mouth bass.

Fisheries management problems are generally complex because they are socio-ecological systems encumbered by issues of scale, stakeholder conflict, and structural uncertainty with respect to the influence of management on the resource. Consequently, agencies that manage fisheries actively seek employees that can demonstrate problem-solving skills and communicate to a diverse set of stakeholders. To enhance development of critical thinking skills, problem-based learning was incorporated into an undergraduate introductory fisheries class using a structured decision making (SDM) framework. Student teams identified a problem of local, regional, or national significance, then defined the problem's scope and scale and identified decision makers and stakeholders, multiple conflicting objectives, and alternative actions designed to meet objectives.

Urban fisheries provide unique angling opportunities for people from traditionally underrepresented demographics. Lake Raleigh is a 38-ha impoundment located on the North Carolina State University campus in Raleigh. Like many urban fisheries, little is known about angler use and satisfaction or how angling catch rate is related to fish availability in Lake Raleigh. We characterized the recreational fishery and fish assemblage with con- current creel and boat electro fishing surveys over the course of one year. In total, 245 anglers were interviewed on 68 survey days. On average, anglers spent 1.7 h fishing per trip and caught 0.385 fish h-1. A large proportion of anglers (43.9%) targeted multiple species, whereas 36.5% targeted largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides), 10.0% targeted panfish (i.e., sun shes [Lepomis spp.] and crappies [Pomoxis spp.]), and 9.6% targeted cat fish (Ameiurus spp. and Ictalurus spp.).

Published reports indicate night electrofishing may be superior to day sampling to estimate density and diversity of collected shes in some aquatic habitats. However, because shallow, highly turbid waters characteristic of river floodplains present fish detection, navigation, and safety concerns during night electrofishing, many southeastern floodplain sampling programs have focused on day electrofishing. We used paired day and night samples of shes collected by transect (200 m distance for eight minutes) and point electro fishing (1 minute at four points spaced 25 m apart) to assess potential day electro fishing bias at four sites in the Atchafalaya River floodplain during fall and winter 2013. Analyses compared day and night estimates of overall catch-per-unit e ort (CPUE) of bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus), largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides), and black crappie (Pomoxis nigromaculatus), as well as species richness and assemblage evenness by electrofishing method.