A Fish of Weedy Waters: Golden Shiner Biology and Culture

Abstract

The golden shiner, Notemigonus crysoleucas, is a major bait and forage fish species in the USA. Farmers produce millions of golden shiners annually that are distributed live, many across state boundaries. Native over much of the eastern and central USA, this species is often present but rarely abundant in natural systems, as fish density is apparently controlled by predation rather than by food resources. Aquaculture of the golden shiner is a century‐old practice and culture methods have evolved over time, resulting in today's farm‐raised, certified specific pathogen– and aquatic nuisance species–free baitfish. Federal and state agencies and universities have a long history of developing culture methods and promoting baitfish culture to replace the indiscriminate and wasteful harvest of fish from natural waters. Despite advances in culture methods and the advantages of a farm‐raised species produced under controlled and biosecure conditions, golden shiner farming is only marginally profitable and remaining farmers survive on farm equity and increased market share from others exiting the business. Ironically, increasing regulations and restrictions leading to a reduction in the supply of farm‐raised baitfish could drive anglers back to harvesting bait from natural waters, the very concern that initiated government support for baitfish culture a century ago.

The Effects of Different Winter Feeding Regimens on Growth, Survival, and Fatty Acid Composition of Fathead Minnow and Golden Shiners

“…Farmers do not feed FHM large amounts of commercial feed even in the summer, as this particular species relies heavily on the primary productivity of the pond for growth (Stone et al. ). However, natural food sources are not as plentiful during the winter.…”

“…, 2017; Stone et al. ). During that winter, many baitfish farmers reported losing more than 50% of their crop.…”

“…Both FHM and GS are found in geographic regions further north than Arkansas and are accustomed to cold temperatures in their natural environment (Stone et al. , ). Effective feeding strategies are further complicated by large pond sizes, which in some cases may exceed 25 ha (Stone et al.…”

“…Effective feeding strategies are further complicated by large pond sizes, which in some cases may exceed 25 ha (Stone et al. , ). During the peak of the production season, baitfish farmers typically administer small amounts of feed (10 kg·ha −1 ·d −1 ) compared to other aquaculture industries, such as catfish, for which feeding rates commonly exceed 150 kg·ha −1 ·d −1 .…”

Effects of regulations on technical efficiency of U.S. baitfish and sportfish producers

“…All data (output and inputs) were transformed to a per-hectare (ha) value and the natural log taken. Stata 11 (StataCorp, 2009) was used to test for homoscedasticity (RV plot and Breusch-Pagan test), multicollinearity (VIF test), model specification (Lowess test), and normality (Kdensity, Pnorm, Qnorm, and Shapiro-Wilk test).…”