Relative Contribution of Stocked Walleyes in Tennessee Reservoirs

Otolith chemistry was used to identify two hatchery stocks (Missouri State Hatchery and Arkansas Federal Hatchery) and a possible wild stock of walleye Sander vitreus in the Eleven Point River in northeastern Arkansas. Previous population estimates by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission using traditional tag-and-release techniques failed to identify the relative survival of these stocks or their spatial and temporal persistence. Using chemical analysis of otoliths combined with a priori knowledge of the hatchery source, we identified otolith chemical signatures unique to each stock. We collected 51 walleyes that bore the physical tag of a known hatchery, along with 46 nontagged walleyes. The efficacy of otolith chemistry in classifying walleyes to known stocks was assessed by analyzing unknowns via discriminant function analysis. Fish were classified to their respective stocks based on otolith chemistry, and 92% were assigned to known stocks. Fishery managers can assess the persistence of individual stocks and the success rates of stocking practices in riverine systems using this technique.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stock Identification of Walleye via Otolith Chemistry in the Eleven Point River, Arkansas

Bickford

Hannigan

2005

“…The effectiveness of supplementally stocking walleyes is related in part to the natural recruitment and ecology of the system being stocked, but more likely it reflects the performance of the stocked fish released into smaller populations. Unlike when walleyes are stocked to compensate for lack of recruitment (e.g., Brooking et al 1995;Li et al 1996;Vandergoot and Bettoli 2003), recruitment of wild fish is occurring in the Eleven Point River, but at a relatively low level that is commensurate with population size. In other words, stocking efforts are effectively supplementing a sustaining walleye population in the Eleven Point River because it does not take much effort to release fish into a small river and survival and growth are reasonably adequate.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In summary, few studies have evaluated walleye stocking programs in the southern United States (Vandergoot and Bettoli 2003); this may be the first such study for a southern river. Supplemental stocking efforts by the AGFC have resulted in a large contribution to the walleye population of the Eleven Point River-both within cohorts (as evidenced by the freeze-branding results) and in the breeding population (as evidenced by genetic analysis).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Fisheries managers must evaluate the effectiveness of their stocking programs to enhance efficiency; historically, stocking programs that involve lentic systems have been evaluated with a wide variety of methods. Genetic markers (Jennings and Philipp 1992;Koppelman et al 1992;Mathias et al 1992;Eldridge et al 2002), tetracycline marking of otoliths (Kayle 1992;Lucchesi 2002;Vandergoot and Bettoli 2003), coded wire tags (Paragamian and Kingery 1992;Parsons and Pereira 1997), fin clips (McWilliams and Larscheid 1992;Mitzner 1992), and freeze branding (LaJeone et al 1992;Paragamian and Kingery 1992) are common methods of marking fish to evaluate stocking success. Every method of marking fish has limitations, such as the loss of tags or marks, the inability to mark fish of less than a certain size, the need to sacrifice fish to identify marks, and the cost and labor intensiveness of implanting and identifying marks.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Assessment of Stocking Success of Walleye in the Eleven Point River, Arkansas

Henry¹,

Barkley²,

Koppelman

et al. 2008

Few studies have evaluated stocking programs for walleye Sander vitreus in the southern United States; this may be the first such study for a southern river. The Eleven Point River, located in southeastern Missouri and northeastern Arkansas, has been supplementally stocked by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC) and the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) for many years. Our goals were (1) to assess the contribution of walleye fingerlings in the Arkansas section (∼60 km) of the Eleven Point River using the recapture rates of marked walleyes and (2) to assess the reproductive contribution of stocked walleyes using genetic tracking of mitochondrial DNA markers. All of the walleyes stocked by the AGFC during 1999–2002 were freeze‐branded; these fish possess the A haplotype, which is the most common one rangewide. Wild fish and those stocked by the MDC in the Missouri portion of the Eleven Point River possess the native C haplotype of the Black River system, which includes the Eleven Point River. Electrofishing samples revealed that the stocked fish captured in Arkansas from 2002 to 2004 were almost evenly divided by cohort; 52% possessed the A marker and 43% the C marker. Forty‐three percent of the walleyes older than age 3 (and therefore present in the river before the release of the freeze‐branded fish) had the A marker. Walleyes originating from the AGFC‐source fish had significantly greater relative weights than did native‐spawned walleyes and fish released in Missouri. In addition, haplotype‐A walleyes had significantly greater relative weights than haplotype‐C walleyes. The high relative weights of the sampled fish throughout the study suggests a lack of intraspecific competition as a result of stocking.

“…During one of the initial marking trials, Brooks et al (2002) treated stocked Walleye fry, as well as small and large fingerlings, with OTC to evaluate the relative contribution of each life stage to several fisheries maintained solely through stocking. Both OTC-marked fry (Lucchesi 2002;Vandergoot and Bettoli 2003;Domeier 2010) and fingerlings (Zorn 2015) have subsequently been used to help evaluate stockings intended to supplement natural reproduction, whereas Fielder et al (2007) and Johnson et al (2015) reported the use of OTC-marked fingerlings to verify the recovery of natural reproduction in Saginaw Bay, Lake Huron. In each of these studies, the OTC marks were used to identify the stocked fish during later recapture so that the proportion of the year-classes composed of fish stocked as fry or fingerlings could be identified.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Contribution and Performance of Stocked Walleyes in the Recovery of the Red Lakes, Minnesota, Fishery

Logsdon

Anderson

Miller

2016

Oxytetracycline (OTC) marking and genetic assignment techniques were used to evaluate the contribution and performance of Walleye Sander vitreus fry stocked to accelerate the recovery of a recruitment‐overfished population in the Red Lakes, Minnesota. Three stockings of OTC‐marked fry from an egg source on the Pike River were conducted at densities of 274 to 358 fry/ha to expedite the recovery of the spawning stock in which the adult female biomass had fallen below 0.5 kg/ha for 10 consecutive years. Two additional stockings of OTC‐marked fry from an egg source on a Red Lakes tributary were then conducted at 33 and 87 fry/ha to help quantify natural reproduction as the spawning stock recovered. Subsequent inspection of fish from seine and gill‐net samples indicated that Pike River fish composed 50% to 94 % of the stocked year‐classes and that the stocked year‐classes were three of the strongest in the past 25 years. The Pike River fish survived, grew, and matured at rates similar to the native fish, contributing to an increase in adult female biomass ranging from 2.5 to 8.0 kg/ha. Natural reproduction also increased from a range of 8–120 fry/ha to a range of 199–908 fry/ha, with 49% to 53% Pike River ancestry. For the first 2 years after maturation of the first stocked year‐class, however, Pike River ancestry was 13–31 percentage points below what was expected from the relative abundance of Pike River adults in the population. The proportion of Pike River adults present on the tributary spawning runs was also initially below expectations. Both spawning participation and success of Pike River adults increased in successive years, and the stocked fry were judged to have accelerated the recovery of the population to a sustainable and fishable status without the need for additional stocking. Received October 20, 2015; accepted March 9, 2016 Published online July 7, 2016