Journal of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies

Economic returns from the commercial production of fish in Arkansas during 1969 were approximately double those of 1966. Acreages devoted to the culture of golden shiners and channel catfish in Arkansas showed major increases. The cash return from shiners was up 60 percent, and that from catfish increased almost fourfold. The overall return to Arkansas from all fish culture exceeded $17 million, whereas the nationwide return from baitfishes and catfish alone was nearly $35 million. Data collected from Arkansas fish farmers was analyzed with the aid of automatic data processing and are reported in the categories of Foodfish, Baitfish, Fingerlings, and Fee Fishing. Acreages, production, and dollar values of each category are presented. In Arkansas, golden shiners are the leading species in terms of acreage and dollar production. Channel catfish for foodfish rank a close second in dollar value.

A study was initiated in order to evaluate crawfish (Procambarus clarki) production in several impoundments managed for waterfowl on Rockefeller Refuge, Grand Chenier, Louisiana. Impoundments have been intensively managed for waterfowl on the refuge for the past 16 years, however, this has been through a gravity flow system. Pumping units were installed in three ofthe impoundments in 1968, bringing under water control some 6,000 acres of marshland. Certain management techniques employed in these impoundments, particularly in the areas controlled by pumping units, have significantly increased the production of crawfish as well as desirable waterfowl food plants. It is hoped that programs of this nature will stimulate the owners of large tracts of marshes to manage their holdings for wildlife.

A total of 275 channel catfish, measuring on the average of 21.4 mm in total length were raised in the laboratory for 120 days under controlled temperatures of 26,28, and 32 C with lO-hr and 14-hr photoperiods. Data on growth, f09d consumption, food conversion efficiency, and water quality were collected at IS-day intervals. Analysis of length-weight relationship showed that the experimental conditions had no effect on body shape. The fish under 28C-IOL had slow growth in length throughout the study period. Variations in food consumption and food conversion efficiency in IS-day intervals were discussed. Average food consumption and food conversion efficiency for the entire study period were discussed in relation to temperature-photoperiod combinations. The fish at 28 and 32 C consumed more food under IO-hr than under 14-hr light conditions. There was a direct relationship between photoperiod and food conversion efficiency for the fish at all the three temperatures.

A study to determine the relationship of the interval of time between lifts and the catch of ten-foot Wisconsin-type trap nets was included as a segment of an investigation designed to determine the potential of utilizing trap nets as a commercial fishing device in warmwater reservoirs. Data obtained from the catch of 170 trap net lifts, which varied in interval of time between lifts from one to seven days, indicate that with an increase in the interval of time between lifts, the total catch increased while the catch per net day decreased. A logarithmic curve Y = 73.866 + 235.229 log X, where Yequals total catch in pounds and X equals the interval of time between lifts in days, appears to best describe this relationship. The species composition ofthe catch also changed significantly as the interval of time between lifts increased. This change was the result of a decreasing percentage of gizzard and threadfin shad in the catch as the interval increased.

Sills, Joe B., and Paul D. Harman. (Southeastern Fish Control Laboratory, Warm Springs, Ga.). E:[[Icacy and residues of quinaldine sulfate, an anesthetic[or striped bass (Roce'us saxatilis). Proceedings of the 24th Annual Conference of the Southeastern Association of Game and Fish Commissioners, pp. Striped bass (Roccus saxatilis) were exposed to solutions of quinaldine sulfate containing 10, 25,40 and 55 p.p.m. of quinaldine. Fish were effectively anesthetized at concentrations of 25 to 55 p.p.m. Residue levels in muscle tissue of fish exposed to 40 p.p.m. of quinaldine at 4° C. for 10 minutes reached 2.60 p.p.m., but were essentially gone after 24 hours of recovery in fresh water.

Fecundity of largemouth bass, Micropterus salmoides, Lac. reared and maintained on two diets was measured by use of a technique of collecting naturally-spawned eggs from nylon felt spawning mats. A volumetric measurement was made of the eggs in 10 spawns from Year Classes I, II and III pellet-fed fish for comparison with eggs from Year Class II bass fed forage fish. Average eggs per spawn for the Year Class I fish was 9,551; for Year Class II pellet-fed, 21,744; for Year Class III, 15,223 and for Year Class II fish-fed, 19,410. The lower number of eggs produced by Year Class III fish than Year Class II is thought to be related to influence of the diet given during the first 14 months of feeding when a ration of dry trout feed and ground frozen fish was fed to this lot. Other than this, the artificial ration used was Oregon Moist Pellet. Apparent viability of eggs from bass receiving artificial food was higher than that of eggs from those on a natural diet.

Previous attempts to artifically spawn the grass carp have been unsatisfactory, with complete failure or insignificant success using the Russian method des~ribed by A. G. Konradt (1965). The same basic procedure, with variations in hormone, size of dose, and number of injections, proved to be successful in our attempt to spawn four year old fish. The following significant observations were made: I. Human chorionic gonadotropin, used as stimulating injections, and dry, whole carp pituitary, used as the resolving injection, produced a high percent of viable eggs. II. Extending the period of development within the female from 36 hours to 60 hours proved to be more effective in producing mature eggs. III. The Spawning season is approximately one month in Arkansas. IV.

Spawning behavior, age and growth, and sport fishery for the silver redhorse, Moxosloma anisurum (Rafinesque), in the Flint River, Madison County, Alabama, were studied in 1969 and 1970. Spawning silver redhorse were first observed on April I, 1969, and April 8, 1970, at a water temperature of I 4.4° C. (58° F.) Females appeared to mature between the sixth and seventh year at a length of 548-600 mm. Males appeared to mature at 510-530 mm., but most seemed to mature at the same age. Growth of males and females was approximately the same until age group VI. After this age, males grew slower than females. Mature specimens moved into Flint River from Wheeler Reservoir to spawn during February through April. Immature silver redhorse returned to Wheeler Reservoir where they remained until sexually mature. The most important fishery on the Flint River during early spring is for silver redhorse.

The construction of a dike dividing the Okefenokee Swamp and the Suwannee River in 1960 and the phenomenal poundage of bowfin found in the river prompted an investigation to determine what fish were entering the river by passing over the dike from the swamp. Twenty thousand nine hundred and forty-six fish weighing 18,590.3 pounds were calculated to have moved over the spillway from February 20, 1969 to June 26, 1970. Bowfin comprised seventy-nine percent by weight of the fish and yellow bullhead were the most numerous species to come over. Ninety percent of the movement occurred at night. Movement was related to water temperature, depth of discharge, and spawning activity and is reported for each major species. The study establishes that the swamp does influence the river fishery and that the high bowfin population was, in part, due to their spilling over the dike. Management implications are discussed.

The information presented here is a phase of an overall investigation entitled "Environmental Changes Produced by Cold-water Outlets from Three Arkansas Reservoirs", supported by funds provided by the Office of Water Resources Research, and published in a bulletin by Hoffman and Kilambi (1970). The data herein presented compare the seasonal cycles of net plankton of a natural stream (Kings River) with a new tailwater (Beaver Reservoir, impounded in 1965). Quantitative net plankton abundance and physicochemical conditions at each area were monitored bimonthly from September 1967, through October 1968. Mid-winter blooms of Chrysophyta at the Beaver Dam stations were preceded by an increase in average monthly temperatures and followed by a decrease in silica concentrations. Downstream from Beaver Dam, late summer blooms of Cyanophyta were recorded. Most of these increases occurred in conjunction with high average dissolved oxygen concentrations and temperatures.

Sixteen years of creel and use data on Noontootla Creek in the southern Appalachian mountains of northern Georgia from 1954 to 1969 are presented. Changes in fishing pressure, catch rates, and use patterns under three types of management regulations-general regulations from 1954-1963 except for 1960 when the stream was designated "artificials only", and "artificials only catch-and-release" regulations from 1964-1969-are discussed. Noontootla is a wildlife management area stream fished under a permit check in-check out system allowing a nearly complete survey. A total of 17,445 anglers were surveyed. The survey revealed a decrease in daily fishing pressure under "artificials only" regulations and a substantial decrease under "catch-andrelease" regulations. The use data revealed a decrease in hours/ mean angler day with increasingly restrictive regulations: 4.62, 3.70, and 3.26 for general, "artificials only", and "catch-and-release", respectively.

A series of feeding trials were conducted in raceway-type aquariums with semi-purified diets for the purpose of biologically evaluating aquatic plants as diet ingredients for channel catfish. A protein concentrate extracted from water hyacinth was compared with casein for protein efficiency ratio (PER) with channel catfish fingerlings. The possibility that growth factors may be contributed by small amounts of dehydrated aquatic plant meal in the diet was tested by adding 5 or 10% water hyacinth meal or alfalfa meal to vitamin-free and vitamin-sufficient purified diets and to commercial-type diet formulations. Weight gains and mortalities were used as criteria for evaluating the experimental diets. The lengths of the feeding trials were 4 to 8 weeks depending upon the responses of the fish to the treatments. The PER (g gain per g protein fed) for the water hyacinth protein, 0.34, was much lower than that for casein, 4.87.

A rapidly installable and removable hydrofoil permits a single otter trawl to be used for both surface and bottom sampling. The hydrofoil is airplane-wing shaped in cross section and is three feet long, ten inches wide with a two inch maximum thickness. It is mounted on a fifteen degree wedge and secured to the top edge ofeach otter board. Conversion of doors from one mode of sampling to the other can be done in about one minute. As part of the Maryland anadromous fish studies, I young-of-the-year c1upeids and other species were collected by otter trawling on the bottom and surface of the nursery area studied. The same net and doors were used for both surface and bottom sampling. This paper details the attachment of hydrofoils to the otter boards to permit the gear's use in surface collection. An alternative method has been derived by Trent (1967), however, he did not indicate whether the same boards could be used for both surface and bottom work.

The dependence of commercial fishing success on strong yearclasses of striped bass is demonstrated, using four years of catch records from a small group of cooperating gill-net fishermen. Age analysis of these Rappahannock River catches during 1969 and 1970 revealed that an approximate tripling of landings in 1970 was a result of selection for the dominant 1966 year-class.

Examples of stream disturbance problems are cited. Soil Conservation Service Public Law 566, Army Corps of Engineers Section 208, and highway construction projects cause most stream damage. Significant stream fishery losses are also attributable to agricultural activities, railroad construction, urban and industrial development, and even to private self-interest groups and individuals. A detailed one-county West Virginia survey was made of fishery damages resulting from Agricultural Stablization and Conservation Service C-8 bank stabilization cost-sharing practices that occurred during one year. Nineteen separate projects on three quality streams altered more than 22,400 feet of stream. Replacement cost of lost fishery habitat on an acre for acre basis amounted to $81,600. Annual fish population losses of $3,517 plus expected losses from downstream sedimentation of $1,679, and annual man-day angling losses valued at $1,522 were determined.

The hardwood forests that grow on rich alluvial soil are our most valuable wildlife habitat. All states in the Southeastern Region and some other states were originally endowed with an abundance of this type of wildlife habitat. The soil which supported this habitat is also valuable for agriculture and this has caused the clearing of millions of acres. Shortly after World War II the rate of clearing of the bottomland hardwoods increased alarmingly. In the last ten years, the destruction of our most productive wildlife habitat has reached almost catastrophic proportions. A study of woodlands in the Delta Region of Arkansas, being conducted by the Arkansas Planning Commission in cooperation with the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation, is revealing the extent of this rapid depletion of Delta timberlands. Further, the study is disclosing that this depletion is precipitating losses which extend far beyond what is generally considered to be the limits of conservation interests.