National Fish Hatcheries Improve Paddlefish Populations

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Craig L. Springer USFWS--Division of Fisheries, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Title:National Fish Hatcheries Improve Paddlefish Populations
Subtitle:Craig L. Springer USFWS--Division of Fisheries, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Paddlefish Fingerling

Paddlefish. They are by all accounts unusual and have captured the imagination of conquistadores and modern-day corporate executives.

Spanish explorer, Hernando de Soto, was first to document paddlefish on his 1542 Mississippi River foray. Early ichthyologists thought they were a new species of shark, a freshwater shark. Not so, but like sharks they do lack a bony skeleton.

In 1932, the owner of Allis-Chalmers farm implements, an amateur ichthyologist of sorts, offered a $1,000 reward to the person that could bring him a young paddlefish. That prize went unclaimed and the reproductive ritual remained a mystery until 1960, when a Missouri biologist was eye-witness to spawning.

Fortunately, a lot has been learned since about this fish, sometimes called a spoonbill cat--and it’s been needed. Because of habitat loss, excessive commercial harvest for roe, and dams halting migration to spawning habitat, paddlefish populations made steep declines in the 20th century. In places, the declines were so severe that some states closed off paddlefish to fishing. But U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s national fish hatcheries across the Mississippi basin are working with state fish and game agencies, quite successfully, to turn the trend back around.

National fish hatchery biologists, with the help of the states and the Service’s Fishery Resources Offices and Fish Health Centers, spawn wild fish, rear them at the hatcheries, and then stock the young back into their parental waters. Often these restoration efforts involve the biologists stocking paddlefish above dams, in some cases bringing the species back to waters where they had been absent for years.

Last year, 5,400 12-inch paddlefish from three Service hatcheries, Uvalde National Fish Hatchery, Uvalde, Texas; Inks Dam National Fish Hatchery, Burnet, Texas; and Tishomingo National Fish Hatchery, Tishomingo, Oklahoma, made their way into Lake Texoma--the first time in nearly 50 years that paddlefish swam above Denison Dam on the Red River.

“It’s pretty important that we replenish paddlefish in the Red River, not only above Denison Dam, but throughout the Red,” said Kerry Graves, Tishomingo’s manager. “The dam blocked spawning runs, so the Red River population is down without that access to spawning habitat upstream.”

The parent stock are Red River fish from below Denison Dam. “We’re keeping the same strain of paddlefish in the same river basin,” said David Oviedo, Uvalde’s manager. “To get paddlefish numbers up to what they should be, this has to be a long-term effort.”

It could, however, be a lot of work. It was slim pickings this spring finding ripe Red River paddlefish. Fortunately, biologists at Natchitoches National Fish Hatchery in Louisiana spawned enough Red River fish to fill a void. Inks Dam, Uvalde, and Tishomingo split up among themselves 82,000 fry that will ultimately go back into the Red.

Since the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation allows paddlefish fishing, once established in Lake Texoma and above, paddlefish could occupy at least on a seasonal basis, over 220 miles of river that flow into the lake. According to Brent Bristow of the Service’s Oklahoma Fishery Resources Office, paddlefish could make long-distance spawning runs up the Wichita River into Texas, and to gravel beds in the Washita River near Davis, Oklahoma.

Successes like this one are mounting. Paddlefish have already been restored to waters above dams on the Verdigris and Arkansas rivers in Kansas and Oklahoma. What were twelve- inchers a few years ago now weigh over 75 pounds and measure five feet long. In the next ten years anglers can expect these new residents to reach 100 pounds.

Here’s a brief round up of what other national fish hatcheries are doing for paddlefish restoration elsewhere across the central U.S.

Mammoth Spring National Fish Hatchery in Arkansas rears paddlefish from eggs to nearly 20 inches. Last fall, they stocked 40,000 young paddlefish into the White River system above Beaver Reservoir. In the past, they have planted fish in the Mississippi proper, working closely with states of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Missouri.

Tagging Paddlefish Fingerlings

In South Dakota, Gavins Point National Fish Hatchery focuses on the upper Missouri River working with state fish biologists from Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska. Gavins Point stocks 25,000, 18-inch long paddlefish each year into Lake Francis Case. The adult fish they spawn are upwards of 100 pounds, shedding about 5,000 eggs per pound. Tagged fish stocked by the federal facility are returning to the angler’s creel.
Neosho National Fish Hatchery in Missouri, incubates up to 700,000 eggs and fry each year. Because of cold water temperature, this facility sends the young fish to other hatcheries to get them on feed. They come back to Neosho at about two inches long. This year, hatchery manager David Hendrix anticipates stocking out about 4,500 10-inch fish in Oolagah Reservoir in northeast Oklahoma.
Biologists from Natchitoches National Fish Hatchery spawn paddlefish from Louisiana’s Mermentau River, producing about 500,000 fry a year. Booker Fowler State Fish Hatchery gets about 100,000 fry and the remaining lot is split among Natchitoches, Mammoth Spring, and Private John Allen National Fish Hatcheries. In the end over 50,000 ten-inch paddlefish, implanted with uniquely numbered tags, are stocked out by all four hatcheries in the Sabine, Mermentau, and Mississippi rivers, according to the needs of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
Private John Allen National Fish Hatchery plays an important role in paddlefish restoration in Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, Louisiana, and in the state where it’s located, Mississippi. The hatchery planted over 40,000 paddlefish in the Cumberland River of Tennessee, now that population is considered well on its way to being restored. This year could be one of its best ever for paddlefish production with 50,000 6-inch fingerlings presently on station. Many of these fish will be transferred to other national and state fish hatcheries, assuring the best production possible.

It can be a long-distance affair when rising rivers in spring trigger paddlefish to spawn. Unimpeded by dams, they move upwards of 200 miles over the course of a month to find the right habitat. But given the problems with habitat, the national fish hatcheries and their partners will continue to play a vital role in conserving this truly unique fish. As you can see, it takes a massive amount of work of all involved to improve the lot of paddlefish. Fossils show that this primitive big-river behemoth has been around since before dinosaurs ruled--the conservation efforts by your national fish hatcheries will ensure that they continue to be a vital part of the Mississippi River ecosystem in the future.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service manages 66 National Fish Hatcheries, 64 Fishery Resources Offices, nine Fish Health Centers, and seven Fish Technology Centers across the country.

Contact: Craig L. Springer (505)248-6867