 |
|
| |
| |
WOODRUFF LOCK AND DAM EVALUATION, FLORIDA/GEORGIA
|
Initiated in 2000
For more information contact
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Panama City Fishery Resources Office
1612 June Avenue
Panama City, FL 32405
| Project Description: |
The project funded
an evaluation of threatened Gulf sturgeon movement and habitat use
above and below the Jim Woodruff Lock & Dam on the Apalachicola
River. Hatchery-reared Gulf sturgeon were surgically sterilized
at the Warm Springs Regional Fisheries Center, fitted with transmitters,
then released above and below the dam. Georgia Department of Natural
Resources tracked
the fish above the dam, while USFWS is tracking them below. USFWS
has also captured and placed transmitters on wild Gulf sturgeon
to determine the validity of this "sentinel fish" technique. |
|
Jim Woodruff Lock and Dam
|
| Benefits: |
Above the dam, Gulf
sturgeon have access to over 30 miles of historical spawning and
rearing habitat in the Chattahoochee River and 70 miles in the
Flint River. Results of the evaluation will have direct bearing
on the appropriateness of providing Gulf sturgeon passage at the
Lock and Dam.
|
| Project Status: |
A four month Gulf
sturgeon population survey conducted below the Jim Woodruff Lock
and Dam revealed the population increased 16% from 1998. Age and
length estimates indicate that successful Gulf sturgeon reproduction
is occurring in the Apalachicola River, Florida.
Investigations are
also being conducted in the Brothers, Choctawhatchee, and Yellow
Rivers in Florida and the Fish River and Mobile Bay, Alabama.
|
| Partners: |
Northwest Florida Aquatic
Preserves - Department of Environmental Protection and Georgia Department
of Natural Resources. |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
