ALLIGATOR GAR WORKSHOP MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE June 11, 2002

Transcription

1 ALLIGATOR GAR WORKSHOP MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE June 11, 2002 Participants: Jay Huner, Crawfish Research Center, UL Lafayette, 1031 W.J. Bernard, Rd., St Martinville, LA 70582, , Jeff Farwich, 1201 Hwy 49N, Brinkley, AR 72021, , Tim Burnley, 1201 N. Main, Brinkley, AR 72021, , Dewayne French, Mammoth Springs NFH, P.O. Box 160, Mammoth Spring, AR 72554, , Ted Crowell, Kentucky Dept. of Fish and Wildlife, #1 Game Farm Rd, Frankfort, KY 40601, , John Leonard, 401 Church St., Nashville, TN 37243,d , Brian Kreiser, Dept. of Biological Sciences, Unv. Southern Mississippi, P.O. Box 5018, Hattiesburg, MS 39406, , Todd Slack, Mississippi Museum of Natural Science, 2148 Riverside Drive, Jackson, MS 39202, , Dennis Riecke, Mississippi Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries, 1505 Eastover Dr., Jackson, MS 39211, , Cederic Doolittle, Fish and Wildlife Service, 237 Parker Coliseum, LSU, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, , Christopher Kennedy, Missouri Dept. of Conservation, 2302 Cape County Park Dr., Cape Girardeau, MO 63701, Glenn Thomas, Louisiana Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries, Box 98000, Baton Rouge, LA 70898, , Mike Wood, Louisiana Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries, 368 Century Park Dr., Monroe, LA 71203, , Elizabeth Rabalais, P.O. Box 1190, Lacombe, LA 70445, ,

2 Mike Ewing, Louisiana Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries, P.O. Box 1641, Ferriday, LA 71334, , Paul Rister, Kentucky Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries, 30 Scenic Acres Dr., Murray, KY 42071, , Mark Boone, Missouri Dept. of Conservation, 2302 County Park Dr., Cape Girardeau, MO 63701, ext. 239, Hal Schramm, Mississippi Coop. Unit, Mail Stop 9691, Mississippi State, MS 39742, , Brent Bristow, Fish and Wildlife Service, W. Hwy 7, Tishomingo, OK 73460, , Jason Phillips, Fish and Wildlife Service, Hwy 33, Augusta, AR 72006, , Bobby Reed, Louisiana Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries, 1213 N. Lakeshore Dr., Lake Charles, LA 70601, , Roger Schulz, Fish and Wildlife Service, Century Blvd., Atlanta, GA , Ricky Campbell, Private John Allen NFH, Tupelo, MS 18802, , Joe Stoeckel, Biology Dept., Arkansas Technical University, Russellville, AR , , Lee Holt, 1701 N. Boulder Ave., Arkansas Technical University, Russellville, AR 72801, , C. E Richarson, Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency, P.O. Box 40747, Nashville, TN 37204, Eddie Henderson, 4155 Clay St., Vicksburg, MS 39180, Dave Hickman, LA Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries, P.O. Box 1640, Ferriday, LA 71334, , hickman_ds@wlf.state.la.us Bobby Wilson, Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency, P.O. Box 40747, Nashville, TN 37204, , bwilson@mail.state.tn.us Robb Todd, Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency, P.O. Box 40747, Nashville, TN 37204, , rtodd@mail.state.tn.us

3 Bill Reeves, Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency, P.O. Box 40747, Nashville, TN 37204, John Forester, Fish and Wildlife Service, Baton Rouge FRO, Rom 237, Parker Coliseum, LSU, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, , Jerry Smith, 144 Falls St., Monticello, AR 71655, , Gary Myers, Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency, P.O. Box 40747, Nashville, TN 37204, What We Expect from the Workshop: 1) What other agencies are doing (mgmt. research). 2) Role of hatcheries. 3) Status of animal in LMR. 4) Habitat requirements. 5) Stocking impacts. 6) Current regulations. 7) Role of LMRCC in recovery and management. Status of Alligator Gar in the Southeast: Arkansas - Commercial harvest. No size limits. Low abundance of gator gar. Status unknown. Populations appear to be declining. Not enough population work being done. Public doesn t understand that populations are declining. Some bow fishing occurring. Not finding much in electrofishing efforts. Problems in shocking large gator gar. Are finding large adults only. Rolling effect of the large adults in the river. Kentucky - Not known in Kentucky. Not listed on imperiled fish. None have been located. Louisiana - Un. of LA has received calls on producing gator gar. Popular sport fish. Can buy gar meat throughout the State. See the fish regularly in most sampling efforts. Need to identify population structure. No size regulations. Economic data on the value of the sport fishery - none available. Bow fishing, jug lines, snagging - all are popular. Bow fishing club targets gator gar. Commercial gill netting. Status unknown. Appears common to abundant. We are starting to get better data - trip ticket program - 2 years in making. Will capture commercial landing information by basin. Would like to see the LMRCC technical committee invite key people as part of the sessions. Video available. Mississippi - Coastal populations. Provides fish to Auburn Un. for genetics work.. Fish are pounds from rivers. Caught on hook and line. No game fish. Commercial fish. Same regulations as Arkansas. Commercial no size/bag limits. Would like funding for genetics work. Not sure why they declined. Have caught some by gill netting. Concern for genetics with regards to stocking. Widespread misconception that gar eat game fish. We have a history of eradicating gar. Tracked by heritage program. Some at St. Catherine Creek NWR. Have not seen gator gar in the main river or secondary channels - based on thousands of hours of

4 shocking. Oklahoma - Tishomingo NFH involved. Doing some tagging. Good population in the Red River. Want to do age and growth study. No commercial fishery and no protection. Looking at status of populations. Very few reports outside of the Red River. Sampling by snagging. Some gill netting being done. Large population in Red River above Lake Texhoma. Several year classes present. Missouri - Did capture one last year. No commercial fishery. Impact on exotic carp in the Mississippi River. Extirpated. Looking at habitat requirement - Mingo NWR. Very rare - due to overharvest and lack of habitat. Recovery efforts at Mingo NWR. Looking at NFH for fish to stock. Not concerned with the genetics at this point - no population to mess up. State protected?? Tennessee - Importance of developing the Aquatic Resource Management Plan for the LMR. Development of the West Tennessee plan. Listed as a species in need of management. Listing something as endangered carries a lot of baggage with it. West Tennessee did at one time have a population. No collections in the last 20 to 30 years. Have seen one gator gar in Tennessee recently. Densities are extremely low. Utilize electrofishing, gill nets, and trawl for looking for alligator gar. Started working with Private John Allen NFH.. Main goal is to start a recovery plan. Would eventually like to see a recreational harvest. Need to develop a management plan. Would like to work with other states to develop a management plan. Looking at the LMRCC technical committee. Have stocked about 300 fish to date in Forked Deer river and Obion River over 2 years. Some up to 8 inches. Had concern with predation. Would like to stock a smaller sizes and more numbers. All fish were tagged - binary coded wire tag. Some outreach to the public on the stockings. Need better outreach efforts to show the importance of the fishery - do not impact sport fish. Explain the good qualities of gator gar.. Gary Myers - Director, Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency. What the North American Waterfowl Management Plan did. Started with no funding. Have done $1 ½ billion worth of work to date. Have also did one for shore birds and song birds. Look at habitat needs to make it work. One helps the other. Ducks help the shorebirds and the songbirds. Developed a National Plan for shorebirds and water birds. Looking at developing a National Plan for quail. Have the farm bill money to work with. Need to landscape scale imitative. Need to do something like that for fisheries. LMRCC is a way to look at it. Need to have a blueprint on what we want to do. Need to have a blueprint for the Nation. Need a national habitat plan for fish. Have a lot of interest in the Service and the States. The southeast will take the ball and run with it. We need to move forward. Look at what you want to do with habitat for fish. Pulling fish people together. Need a game plan to sell to get the money. What to put a fish component in the Joint Venture. In the LMR we have lot of that expertise. We can measure and evaluate what the duck folks are doing - can do the same for fisheries. Fish and Wildlife Service: Started to explore involvement in 1997 as a result of a request from TWRA. Good fit into the program at Private John Allen NFH. Addressing imperiled fish needs. Interest from state partners. Trying to balance t/e work with restoration and recreational

5 fisheries needs. Need for a management plan that calls for our involvement. Would like to be involved as a management plan is developed. Role for Private John Allen NFH and Baton Rouge FRO. Management Issues: 1) Outreach to the public to break the myths. Role of gar in the ecosystem and its importance. 2) Stocking impacts - positive and negative impacts. 3) Funding projects to do the work. 4) Recreational value and participation. 5) Habitat loss and modification - side channels and in reservoirs. What is the best habitat? 6) Genetics - what is needed. Cost to do the work. Stock identification. - need to know the genetics information. Genetics on the pallid - $10 to $15 per sample. 7) Life history information needs. 8) Sampling techniques - current river sampling techniques for the alligator gar are not that efficient. Time of year and type of equipment. 9) Amount of available habitat and its location - how many fish are needed for stocking, location for stocking. GIS data layer of what is out there. How much additional habitat will be provided if we can make some modifications to the habitat. 10) Publishing the data on gar or assemble the data to be shared. Coordination of available data. Role of Hatcheries (Private John Allen NFH): 1) Broodstock - 8 broods on station - 45 pounds to 148 pounds. One female remains. 2) All fish our pit tagged. All kept in same pond. 3) Frozen samples for genetic analysis. 4) Ricky has notes on his work at Private John Allen NFH. 5) Diane Strange of Strange Turtle Farm - did some of the initial work with alligator gar. PJA received some of these fish for work in ) No success in Did just pond culture. 7) In 1999, went to intensive culture. 8) Injected all fish. See time line. 9) 90 percent hatch from eggs in the tank. 70 percent in jars. 10) Stocked at 25,000/acre. About 1 ½ inch in size. 11) Tried artificial feed with no success. 12) Feed in pond at high temperatures. 13) About 6-10 inches - June 13 to July 13 14) In 2000, same three females. Lost one female. 15) Could not get the other fish to spawn. 16) In 2001, did as well as ) Possible culture problems: - territorial behavior - going to 5,000 per acre - forage minnow that are to large, will kill the gar. - problems with internal parasites. - genetics work that is needed - need adequate forage for broodstock. Have gone 4 pounds of forage to a pound of gar. Initially used 2 pounds to 1.

6 -other source of forage. Forage with less disease. 18) Collection problems: - bring them in at 70 to 80 pounds. - reducing stress in capture - hook and line produces stress. - gill net or electrofishing appears to work better - research needs for collection techniques (MS222). - canvas tube stretcher for handling - treats with a 1 percent salt solution 19) Some work at Mammoth Spring NFH - kept them in the pond to long. 20) Feel that alligator gar will not spawn every year. Probably every other year. 21) Genetic concerns: - need to be able to hold more brood fish. 22) Need to develop techniques for sex determination. 23) Utilizing broodstock from the wild. Research Needs: 1) Spawning frequency analysis. 2) Age and growth techniques (Auburn paper) 3) Fecundity 4) Sexing techniques - non invasive determination 5) Genetic integrity - genetic structure of stocks. 6) Habitat requirements 7) Stock structure/assessment - abundance and distribution/efficient gear 8) Alternative aging methods - non-lethal 9) Utilization of surrogate species. 10) Other hormones to utilize - look at injection sites. 11) Seasonal movements by age and sex. 12) Stocking densities with pond culture. 13) Stocking sizes 14) Feeding habits Action Items: 1) Repository of current literature on alligator gar. Ricky Campbell to take lead. Need to get it out to everyone. Send copies to Ricky Campbell or Ron Nassar. Will get the information out to everyone. 2) Workshop notes to everyone - Ricky Campbell and Ron Nassar. 3) Fisheries Technical Session will look at developing a management plan in the lower basin - Bobby Reid 4) Update Section on alligator gar in LMRCC Newsletters - Ron Nassar 5) Genetic samples to be analyzed: - from known populations within states - fin clips - 2 sq.cm - any fin - store in tubes on non-denatured alcohol samples - utilize fish to gather other information identified if possible from morbid specimens

7 - Rob Todd (TN) - Jason Phillips (AR) - Bret Bristow (OK) - Mike Wood (LA) - Tim Burnley (AR) - John Forester (LA) 6) Develop standardized form - fecundity, food habits, sex/stage of maturity, length/wt., gear types, photographs, save otoliths, how fish died. - Bobby