Investigators
Josh Schloesser,
M.S. Student
Dr. Craig Paukert
Project Supervisor
Dr. Craig Paukert
Funding
Kansas Cooperative Fish and Wildlife
Research Unit
Cooperators
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
Columbia, MO
Missouri Department of Conservation
Objectives
Determine if lengths of shovelnose
sturgeon collected in multifilament gill nets different from fish collected
in monofilament gill nets.
Location
Missouri River, MO
Expected Completion
July 2009
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Status
Field work was completed by US
Fish and Wildlife Service and Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC);
data analysis and manuscript preparation are ongoing at KSU and MDC.
Progress and
Results
There is an increased
concern about the population dynamics of shovelnose sturgeon throughout
the Mississippi and Missouri river basins due to commercial harvest and
because the fish is sympatric with the federally endangered pallid sturgeon.
Because these fish can migrate and travel across interjuristictional boundaries,
population assessments need to be comparable among agencies. However,
both monofilament and multifilament gill nets are used and there is a need
to determine if the two twine materials collect different sizes of shovelnose
sturgeon. Sampling with both monofilament and multifilament gill
nets were used from 2002 to 2004 in the Missouri River from river miles
183 to 193.8 with 1.5, 2.0, 3.0, and 4.0-inch mesh. A total of 1,554
shovelnose sturgeon were collected in winter 2002 and spring 2003, 2004
with monofilament gill nets and 1,741 were collected with multifilament
gillnets. Mean length for fish collected in monofilament nets was
585 mm (range: 210-820) whereas mean length from the multifilament nets
was 578 (204-751). Mean length differed between twine materials for
1.5 and 2.0 inch mesh, but not 3.0 or 4.0 inch mesh. The mean difference
in length from monofilament and multifilament nets were 14 mm for 1.5 inch
mesh and 10 mm for 2.0 inch mesh. Although subtle differences may
occur in the length distribution of fish collected with different twine
material, there may be limited biological differences from the assessment
of shovelnose sturgeon populations collected by different twine materials.
Products
Paukert, C. P., and J. T. Schloesser.
2007. Comparison of shovelnose sturgeon lengths collected in monofilament
and multifilament gill nets. Draft report submitted to the US Fish
and Wildlife Service, Columbia, MO.
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