Why Do Paddlefish Restorations Work in Some Reservoirs, But Not Others?

Fishy Fridays

Weekly spotlight on fisheries science journal articles

 

Jeff Kopaska
AFS Executive Director
[email protected]

Today’s paper resulted from asking the question, why do Paddlefish restorations work in some reservoirs, but not others? The authors isolated turbidity as a potential difference between systems, and there are documented influences of excessive turbidity impacting foraging in planktivores. Personally, I find this all very interesting because of the increase in Paddlefish work in recent years. The proclivity of breaking world records for Paddlefish certainly has created buzz, especially in Oklahoma and Missouri. That interest has pushed north into Iowa, with efforts underway to establish a reservoir population in Lake Rathbun, and to restore an historic population in the Okoboji chain of natural lakes. The announcers for my beloved Cyclones like to say every day is a great day to be a Cyclone, but some days are a little better than others. Similarly, all fish are cool, but some fish are just cooler than most, so here’s to the Paddlefish!

The effect of turbidity on foraging by prerostrum juvenile Paddlefish