Target Fish Communities and the MA Water Policy

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1 Target Fish Communities and the MA Water Policy Todd Richards MA Division of Fisheries and Wildlife

2 MA Water Policy (2004) Principle: Protect Fish and Wildlife Habitat Recommendation: Conduct Target Fish Community Assessments EEA Funded 2 Employees to Work with F&W

3 Developing a Target Fish Community Goal: Define the fish community that is appropriate for a natural river in southern New England (Bain and Meixler, 2000) Assumption: Biological Integrity should be Maintained and is defined by a balanced, integrated, adaptive community (Karr, 1991) Rivers Should Have River Fish Communities

4 Fish Community Assessment The Fish Tell the Story Long-Lived Reflect Stresses Over Time Easily Recognized and Identified

5 Rivers Should Have River Fish Communities What is a River Fish? Fluvial Specialists- FS-(Require Flowing Water - brook trout)

6 Rivers Should Have River Fish Communities What is a River Fish? Fluvial Dependents-FD- (Need Flowing Water at Some time in Their Life Cycle - white sucker)

7 Rivers Should Have River Fish Communities What is a River Fish? Macrohabitat Generalists-MG-(Don t Require Flowing Water - largemouth bass)

8 Completed Target Fish Communities Ipswich USFWS and IRWA, 2001 MG 29% FD 20% Charles CRWA and Cornell, 2006 FS 51% MG 25% FD 25% FS 50% 12% 18% MG 25% FD 25% 70% Housatonic MA Riverways 2004 FS 50% Quinebaug Cornell, 2000

10 Reference Rivers Determine Potential Reference Rivers Based on Physical Characteristics Collect Existing Fisheries and Status Info Describe Reference River Fish Communities There are no true references

11 Data Contributions and Reference Consultation CT DEP Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection- Fisheries MA DFW Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife NEIHP Northeast Instream Habitat Program NH DES New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services NYSDEC New York State Department of Environmental Conservation RI DEM Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, Division of Fish and Wildlife USGS U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Assessment Program (NAWQA) VT DEC Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation WPWA Wood-Pawcatuck Watershed Association

12 Concord River Summary River Characteristics Drainage Area: 400 sq miles Stream Order: 5 th Mainstem Length: km Elevation: ft Gradient: 0-0.5% EPA Level III Ecoregion: 59 River Basin Map Target Fish Community Bridle Shiner 3% Brook Trout 3% Tesselated Darter 4% American Eel 4% Redbreast Sunfish 6% White Sucker 9% Other 14% Other Yellow Perch 3% Pumpkinseed 2% Chain Pickerel 2% Brown Bullhead 2% Redfin pickerel 2% Golden Shiner 2% Creek Chubsucker 1% Fallfish 37% Common Shiner 19% Other: Yellow Perch 3% Pumpkinseed 2% Chain Pickerel 2% Brown Bullhead 2% Redfin Pickerel 2% Golden Shiner 2% Creek Chubsucker 1% Species grouped by Habitat Use Categories (HUC) 48% Fluvial Specialists 27% Fluvial Dependents 25% Macrohabitat Generalists Reference Rivers River State Drainage area (mi²) Stream order Calcareous geology Grad. class Elv. class Level III Ecoregion Lamprey River NH Acidic North River NH Acidic Pawcatuck River RI Acidic Piscataquog River NH Acidic Willimantic River CT Acidic Gradient class:1 = 0-0.5% Elevation class:1 = ft Figure 5a. Concord River summary

13 Concord River Summary River Characteristics Drainage Area: 400 sq miles Stream Order: 5 th Mainstem Length: km Elevation: ft Gradient: 0-0.5% EPA Level III Ecoregion: 59 River Basin Map Target Fish Community Bridle Shiner 3% Brook Trout 3% Tesselated Darter 4% American Eel 4% Redbreast Sunfish 6% White Sucker 9% Other 14% Other Yellow Perch 3% Pumpkinseed 2% Chain Pickerel 2% Brown Bullhead 2% Redfin pickerel 2% Golden Shiner 2% Creek Chubsucker 1% Fallfish 37% Common Shiner 19% Other: Yellow Perch 3% Pumpkinseed 2% Chain Pickerel 2% Brown Bullhead 2% Redfin Pickerel 2% Golden Shiner 2% Creek Chubsucker 1% Species grouped by Habitat Use Categories (HUC) 48% Fluvial Specialists 27% Fluvial Dependents 25% Macrohabitat Generalists Reference Rivers River State Drainage area (mi²) Stream order Calcareous geology Grad. class Elv. class Level III Ecoregion Lamprey River NH Acidic North River NH Acidic Pawcatuck River RI Acidic Piscataquog River NH Acidic Willimantic River CT Acidic Gradient class:1 = 0-0.5% Elevation class:1 = ft Figure 5a. Concord River summary

14 Concord River Summary River Characteristics Drainage Area: 400 sq miles Stream Order: 5 th Mainstem Length: km Elevation: ft Gradient: 0-0.5% EPA Level III Ecoregion: 59 River Basin Map Target Fish Community Bridle Shiner 3% Brook Trout 3% Tesselated Darter 4% American Eel 4% Redbreast Sunfish 6% White Sucker 9% Other 14% Other Yellow Perch 3% Pumpkinseed 2% Chain Pickerel 2% Brown Bullhead 2% Redfin pickerel 2% Golden Shiner 2% Creek Chubsucker 1% Fallfish 37% Common Shiner 19% Other: Yellow Perch 3% Pumpkinseed 2% Chain Pickerel 2% Brown Bullhead 2% Redfin Pickerel 2% Golden Shiner 2% Creek Chubsucker 1% Species grouped by Habitat Use Categories (HUC) 48% Fluvial Specialists 27% Fluvial Dependents 25% Macrohabitat Generalists Reference Rivers River State Drainage area (mi²) Stream order Calcareous geology Grad. class Elv. class Level III Ecoregion Lamprey River NH Acidic North River NH Acidic Pawcatuck River RI Acidic Piscataquog River NH Acidic Willimantic River CT Acidic Gradient class:1 = 0-0.5% Elevation class:1 = ft Figure 5a. Concord River summary

Concord River Summary River Characteristics Drainage Area: 400 sq miles Stream Order: 5 th Mainstem Length: 131.2 km Elevation: 0-800 ft Gradient: 0-0.

15 Concord River Summary River Characteristics Drainage Area: 400 sq miles Stream Order: 5 th Mainstem Length: km Elevation: ft Gradient: 0-0.5% EPA Level III Ecoregion: 59 River Basin Map Target Fish Community Bridle Shiner 3% Brook Trout 3% Tesselated Darter 4% American Eel 4% Redbreast Sunfish 6% White Sucker 9% Other 14% Other Yellow Perch 3% Pumpkinseed 2% Chain Pickerel 2% Brown Bullhead 2% Redfin pickerel 2% Golden Shiner 2% Creek Chubsucker 1% Fallfish 37% Common Shiner 19% Other: Yellow Perch 3% Pumpkinseed 2% Chain Pickerel 2% Brown Bullhead 2% Redfin Pickerel 2% Golden Shiner 2% Creek Chubsucker 1% Species grouped by Habitat Use Categories (HUC) 48% Fluvial Specialists 27% Fluvial Dependents 25% Macrohabitat Generalists Reference Rivers River State Drainage area (mi²) Stream order Calcareous geology Grad. class Elv. class Level III Ecoregion Lamprey River NH Acidic North River NH Acidic Pawcatuck River RI Acidic Piscataquog River NH Acidic Willimantic River CT Acidic Gradient class:1 = 0-0.5% Elevation class:1 = ft Figure 5a. Concord River summary

16 Identifying the Current Status: Concord River Similarity Index Fish species Fallfish Common shiner White sucker Redbreast sunfish American eel Tesselated darter Brook trout Bridle shiner Yellow perch Pumpkinseed Chain pickerel Brown bullhead Redfin pickerel Golden shiner Creek chubsucker Largemouth bass* Yellow bullhead* Bluegill* Brown trout* Rock bass* Rainbow trout* Blacknose dace Banded sunfish TFC Percentage Current Community Percentage Absolute Difference 27.9 Total Percent Similarity (Novak and Bode)

17 Statewide Species Similarity Westfield 76 Hoosic 68 Quinebaug 62 Nashua 50 Housatonic Farmington Concord Wide Range of Watershed Conditions BM Other Shawsheen Charles EBT TD AE RBS F Ipswich 23 WS Blackstone 22 CS Percent Model Affinity (Species)

18 Species Scarcity Scarce or absent species indicate ecological conditions severely lacking; Examine 5 species predicted to be most abundant by TFC; Species considered scarce if the existing fish community percentage was 10% or less than that predicted by the TFC.

19 Scarcity Example Table 36. Blackstone River species percentages for target fish community model and current community composition. Absolute difference values between model expected and current community percentages were used to calculate percent model affinity. Fish species TFC Percentage Current Community Percentage Percent Fallfish Common shiner White sucker Longnose dace American eel Scarce Species

20 Mainstem River Condition Westfield Farmington Hoosic Housatonic Nashua Quinebaug Blackstone Charles Concord Ipswich Shawsheen

21 Prioritizing Restoration: Westfield River (Green) River Species Proportions FD 19% MG 12% TFC FD 18% MG 11% Current Water Quantity and Physical Habitat FS 69% Measure of Pollution Tolerance FS 71% Percent Percent TFC Current 12 8 I M T Tolerance I M T Tolerance TFC Current Water Quality

22 Prioritizing Restoration: Nashua River (Yellow) River Species Proportions TFC Current MG MG 23% FS FS 30% 32% 36% Water Quantity and Physical Habitat FD 41% FD 38% Measure of Pollution - Tolerance Nashua River Percent I M T TFC Current Water Quality Pollution Tolerance

23 Prioritizing Restoration: Ipswich River (Red) River Species Proportions MG 28% TFC FS 26% Current FD 2% FS 2% Water Quantity and Physical Habitat FD 46% MG 96% Measure of Pollution Tolerance Percent Percent I M T Tolerance TFC Current TFC Current Water Quality 0 I M T Tolerance

24 Prioritizing Restoration: Concord River (Red) River Species Proportions MG 25% TFC FS 48% Current FS 12% FD 23% Water Quantity and Physical Habitat FD 27% MG 65% - Measure of Pollution Tolerance Concord River Percent Percent Concord River TFC Current I M T Tolerance I M T Tolerance TFC Current Water Quality

25 Summary Completion of 19 Target Fish Community Models Comparison of 11 Current Fish Communities to Corresponding Targets Generalize Water Quality/Quantity issues Provide a Product that can be Incorporated into Water Policy and Water Quality Standards Applications

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