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Note: Session titles beginning with an asterisk (*) have student presenters.
AUTHORS: Timothy Spier, Michael Flinn – Murray State University, Department of Biological Sciences; Jessica Morris, Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources; Neal Jackson, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Allison Lebeda, Brad Hartman, Dalton Lebeda – Murray State University, Department of Biological Sciences
ABSTRACT: Understanding fish movement in large systems is important when considering management and control of populations, especially for invasive species. Kentucky Lake is the largest reservoir (~65,00 ha) east of the Mississippi River and stretches 296 km from Kentucky into Tennessee. We used gill nets and electrofishing to collect 96 Silver Carp Hypophthalmichthys molitrix (54 females, mean TL ± SE = 868 ± 7 mm, mean W ± SE = 7,327 ± 311 g; 42 males, mean TL ± SE = 815 ± 9 mm, mean W ± SE = 5,794 ± 250 g), and then implanted ultrasonic tags. We used active, boat-mounted receivers and passive receivers to track these fish throughout the lower 90 km of Kentucky Lake. Tagged Silver Carp also moved into Lake Barkley (an adjacent reservoir) via the canal that connects the two. The maximum distance traveled in a day was 40 km, and mean swimming speed peaked around 4 km/day in late April. No obvious spawning migrations were detected in spring of 2017. All-day tracking suggested that carp activity is crepuscular, with swimming speed peaking near sunrise and sunset. Silver Carp were detected inside the lock chamber at the Kentucky Lake dam, but no fish have left the lake through this route. Fish which were tagged by other research groups have been detected entering Kentucky Lake through the lock. Initial results show that Silver Carp can move long distances over short time periods and movement patterns are variable, even for carp released simultaneously.
Monday October 30, 2017 3:20pm - 3:40pm EDT
French