Nature Rocks! Family Nature Club Kicks Off at Wolf Creek National Fish Hatchery

Although frigid temperatures do not normally set the scene for spending much time outdoors for most people, January 2011 was a special month for Wolf Creek National Fish Hatchery in Kentucky as the hatchery kicked off its 2011 Nature Rocks! Family Nature Club series. The year-long program, coordinated in partnership with the Russell County Public Library, offers an engaging family oriented activity each month to help encourage parents and guardians, along with their kiddos, to get outdoors and better connected with nature.

Intern Christin Roberson displays artwork made during a monthly Nature Rocks! Family Nature Club meeting. Photo Glenda York/Jamestown Public Library

Each month has a different theme, ranging from “Tracks and Scat, OH MY!” to “Bountiful Birding” to “Spider Web Wonders.” Healthy snacks are also provided to all participants during the free 1 ½ hour program. To help ease the driving distance and to better accommodate families who might not otherwise be able to make it, the two partnering organizations also rotate locations alternately, the hatchery hosting monthly activities during the “odd” months and the public library in Russell Springs, Kentucky on “even” months. To help purchase materials, such as good things to eat, the Friends of Wolf Creek National Fish Hatchery, Inc.support the monthly meetings as well. 

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Tagged lake sturgeon reveal valuable data

Tagging fish is a common fisheries management technique. Every lake sturgeon handled by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists gets a Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tag. The tag has a unique 15-digit code to identify that fish.  The tag is a half inch long, and enclosed in glass.

The tag is only useful when tagged fish are re-caught in the future. The data yielded will show how far fish move, how much they grow, and give some idea of how long they live. The tags may even show how attached an individual fish is to particular habitats, like spawning sites, over time. When enough fish are tagged, biologists can accurately estimate population size.



Joshua Schloesser with the Ashland Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office carefully injects a lake sturgeon with a PIT tag, just under its skin. This fish was caught in near Ontonagon, Michigan. USFWS photo

Smaller than a dime is tall, PIT tags are of great value to fish biologists. USFWS photo



According to fish biologist Joshua Schloesser at the Ashland Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office in Wisconsin, PIT tags work well for lake sturgeon in the Great Lakes because the fish can live over 100 years and have the ability to move long distances. The Wisconsin DNR recently recaptured a lake sturgeon in Chequamegon Bay, Wisconsin, that was originally PIT-tagged near L'Anse, Michigan.

Lake sturgeon are in fact very mobile. 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to Break Ground on “Green” Aquatic Conservation and Education Center

Mammoth Spring National Fish Hatchery, in Mammoth Spring, Arkansas, will soon be home to one of the most energy efficient buildings ever built by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

A ground-breaking ceremony will take place at the future site of the Aquatic Conservation and Education Center on March 23, 2011. The event begins at 10:00 a.m. at the hatchery, located at 302 Fish Hatchery Lane. The public is invited to attend.

The center will feature energy-efficient mechanical and electrical systems, recycled and locally available building materials, educational exhibits and meeting space, storm water capture and re-use, and native plantings. It is expected to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver certification. Click to view a larger scale sketch of the building plan.   

“But we’re shooting for Gold certification,” said Richard Shelton, manager of the hatchery for the past 26 years. “This building will be the bricks-and-mortar embodiment of our conservation mission. We are really proud of the design.”

LEED is an internationally recognized green building certification system. In addition to its sustainable design features, the center will include an environmental education classroom, retail sales space, additional office space, fish habitat displays and interpretive exhibits, and outdoor features such as a display pond and viewing areas.

“This new state-of-the-art center will be something that the community can be proud of, a place where people, and especially children, can connect with nature and learn about conservation and environmental issues,” said Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. “In addition, it will provide a boost to the local economy, creating new jobs with stimulus funds.”

Contacts:
Richard Shelton, Manager, 870-625-3912
Tom MacKenzie, USFWS, Tom_MacKenzie@fws.gov, 404/679-7291.

Anorexic bass and what the science says

It's still March but soon enough, smallmouth bass will be on the nest--late April in Arkansas, and early June in Wisconsin. Ardent anglers know that nest-guarding smallmouth bass put all their attention in guarding their young, with little energy put into feeding. Now, fish physiologist Dr. Kyle Hanson at the Abernathy Fish Technology Center in Washington knows why. Hanson and colleagues Drs. Alfonso Abizaid and Steven Cooke from Carleton University delved into the cause and consequence of anorexia in smallmouth bass. The answers were found in looks at blood chemistry and manipulations in feeding. Their findings were published in the science journal, Hormones and Behavior.

Hanson and his colleagues caught nest-guarding male bass and took blood samples over the course of the period that offspring progress from eggs to fry and their eventual independence from the parent. They tested the blood for the hormone, gherlin, which is known to regulate appetite. They learned that the hormone is lowest in guarding males when their offspring are in the egg stage. It increased as the young grew toward independence, a period that lasted about three weeks.



Dr. Kyle Hanson and colleagues tested the aggressiveness of anorexic smallmouth bass, and published their findings in the science journal, Hormones and Behavior. Marie-Ange Gravel/Carleton University



The scientists also injected groups of nesting bass with gherlin and force-fed crayfish to others and tested their swimming abilities and aggressiveness toward nest predators. Fish with full bellies didn’t swim as well; similarly, sated bass were less aggressive after eating. The research reveals that anorexia actually allows male smallmouth bass to better protect offspring.

Genetics data essential for sicklefin redhorse

Dr. Greg Moyer at the Warm Springs Fish Technology Center, in Warm Springs, Georgia, led research into the genetic makeup of a fish that ironically remains unnamed by science. Moyer and colleagues Mark Cantrell, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and J.D. Rousey, Valdosta State University, published their research in the North American Journal of Fisheries Management.



The sicklefin redhorse remains unnamed by science. Steve Fraley NCWRC photo

Commonly called the sicklefin redhorse, the fish is aptly named. Its head is horse-like and the fins of breeding males are brick-red, but Moyer and colleagues looked deeper, into the genetic diversity of populations in the Little Tennessee River and the hatchery broodstock being used to restore this fish that is depleted in the wild.

The scientists learned that the fish in the wild and the hatchery were not different in their genetic diversity, and that fish held in the hatchery were not related. Conserving this genetic diversity is important in restoring fish populations, so as to ensure healthy populations. Moreover, the scientists say their research points to the utility of genetic data in fisheries management.