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MONITORING FISHERY RESPONSE TO WETLAND RESTORATION IN WESTERN LAKE ERIE
A SURVEY OF THE TEMPORAL FISH COMMUNITY IN THE
CRANE CREEK ESTUARY:
1996 PROGRESS REPORT

August 3, 1997

Anjanette (Hintz) Bowen
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Fishery Resources Office
Alpena, MI 49707
anjanette_bowen@fws.gov

This project was funded in part by the Lake Erie Protection Fund small grant program.

Provisional data, not to be cited without permission.

 

INTRODUCTION

Coastal wetlands are a natural, historic and integral part of a healthy Great Lakes ecosystem. They function as a biological resource to fish by providing spawning, nursery and feeding habitat; and most nearshore species use these areas during some phase of their life cycle. Since 1850, Lake Erie marshland from Vermillion, Ohio to the Detroit River has been reduced from 4,000 km� (1,544 mi�) to 150 km� (58 mi�). Reductions were mainly due to diking, filling, and draining to provide for increasing cultural uses in heavy industry, agriculture, and recreation (Herdendorf and Krieger, 1989). Currently efforts are being made to rehabilitate the structure and function of remaining western Lake Erie coastal wetlands in an effort to conserve and enhance the fish and wildlife which use them.

In 1994 the Metzger Marsh Wetland Restoration Project (U.S. Department of the Interior, 1994) was initiated to improve the structure and function of Metzger Marsh, a degraded western Lake Erie coastal wetland. In an effort to provide a comparison for measuring fish response to the Metzger Marsh restoration project, the Alpena Fishery Resources Office began to monitor the temporal fishery of nearby Crane Creek. The Crane Creek estuary is similarly degraded to pre-construction Metzger Marsh. Fishery data has been gathered from the estuary of Crane Creek since 1994 to assist in identifying pre- and post-construction fishery values. The information gathered from the Crane Creek estuary will be used to smooth out fluctuations in year class strength and species composition to provide a measure of the effectiveness of the restoration project in achieving ecosystem goals.

Observations on the fishery of Crane Creek is not only of value to the Metzger Marsh project but is valuable in evaluating the potential for coastal wetland rehabilitation on Crane Creek as well. This study will also aid in better understanding the value and function of the numerous wetland types remaining within the Lake Erie ecosystem.

STUDY SITE

Crane Creek is a tributary to western Lake Erie west of Port Clinton, Ohio. The creek is slow moving with an average gradient of 0.57 m/min (1.9 ft/min) in 1987 (Ohio Department of Transportation, 1987). The majority of the watershed is located in Wood and Ottawa Counties; although the mouth opens to Lake Erie from Lucas County. The watershed comprises an area of 143.5 km� (55.4 mi�) and supports mainly residential and agricultural uses (Ohio Department of Transportation, 1987).

The primary area of interest for this study is the lower one kilometer of the river which opens up into an estuary at the mouth of Crane Creek (Figure 1). This area is located on the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge and is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. A lakefront dike separates the estuary from the lake and contains a narrow channel which opens to the lake near the original creek mouth. The estuary is composed of pools 4 and 5 (51.1 and 84.0 hectares respectively) of the refuge. The two pools were originally separated by a now eroded internal dike. The natural creek channel follows the eastern edge of the estuary to the southwest where it is separated from the open water by an eroding internal dike which remains along the estuary's southern boundary.

Figure 1.  Crane Creek is a tributary to western Lake Erie from the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge in Lucas County, Ohio.   Seven locations in the estuary, identified numerically, were sampled in 1996.
(Eroded dikes are indicated by "---" and the creek channel is indicated by "....").

 

Lake Erie seiches produce frequent flow direction and water level changes in the estuary. Water depths are shallow (1 meter and less in depth) in general but are deeper in the creek channel (1-2 meters in depth). Sediments throughout the estuary consisted mainly of silt; however, sandy sediments are present at the mouth. Waters were turbid throughout the study period and transparency was limited at all times. No emergent or floating aquatic vegetation was noted from June to October. A limited amount of submerged vegetation, Potamogeton sp., was observed in the southeast corner of the estuary in June.

Seven study sites were sampled in the estuary in 1996. Sampling locations were selected in 1994 in areas that had sufficient water levels to be accessible with boat and sampling equipment. Sites were established to sample various habitats located within the estuary. Site descriptions are provided in Table 1.

Table 1. Descriptions of 1996 Crane Creek fishery survey sites, located on the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, Lucas County, Ohio.

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Site 1 - Located in the creek channel at the river mouth in the northeast corner of the estuary. Sediments were hard and sandy. Conditions at this site were greatly affected by seiche activity causing variations in intensity and direction of water currents and sampling conditions.

Site 2 - Located in the nearshore area at the opening of a refuge canal to the estuary in the southeast corner. Sediments are soft and silty. Water currents are evident depending upon the direction of the seiche.

Site 3 - Located in the creek channel at the end of the diked channel where it meets the open water along the south shore of the estuary. Sediments are soft and silty. Water currents are evident depending upon the direction of the seiche.

Site 4 - Located in the diked creek channel in a deep hole. Sediments are soft and silty. Water currents are evident depending upon the direction of the seiche.

Site 5 - Located in the middle of pool 5 in shallow open water. There is little water movement outside of weather activity. Sediments are soft and silty and water depths are uniform.

Site 6 - Located on the east end of a depositional island near the creek channel. This is a sandy shore site where sediments to the north are soft and silty and to the south are sandy. Water depths gradually increase away from shore. Water currents are evident depending upon the direction of the seiche.

Site 7 - Located on the west shore of the mouth of the creek at the northeast shore of the estuary. The shore is a sandy depositional area and sediments are soft and silty away from shore. Water depths drop rapidly away from shore and water currents can be high from the west along shore.

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METHODS

Seven sites were sampled once a month from June to October 1996 in the Crane Creek estuary (Figure 1). Impoundment gear, trap and hoop nets, were fished for one night per month at sites 1 - 5. Sites 1, 3, and 4 were fished with a 1.2 x 1.2 m trapnet (1.3 cm sq. mesh) with a 22.5 m lead; and sites 2 and 5 were fished with a 0.9 m hoopnet (1.3 cm sq. mesh) with 15 m wings. Nets were set in the afternoon and lifted the following morning.

Nighttime beach seining was used to sample two shoreline locations, sites 6 and 7. Sampling at each site consisted of two hauls with a 30 x 1.2 m seine (0.64 cm mesh). One end of the seine was anchored on shore during sampling.

Nighttime larval sampling was conducted at sites 1 - 5 beginning in July 1996. A 0.5 m icthyoplankton net (303 um) was used to sample the upper 0.5 m of water at each of the locations. One ten minute tow or two five minute tows were collected at each location. The catch was either preserved in formalin and later identified or directly identified to species.

Total lengths (mm) were recorded for all fish captured. Scale samples and weights (g) were taken from all sportfish. Fish were returned to the water following data collection. Surface water temperature (�C), surface dissolved oxygen (mg/l), transparency (m), substrate type (sand, silt, or rock), maximum and minimum water depths (m) and weather conditions were recorded at each sample location. Relative abundance by sample date was determined for all species and biotic data summaries were compiled for all species by date and sample site.  See Appendix I of species codes for Tables 3, 4, and 6.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Twenty-four species of fish from ten families were represented in the catch from the Crane Creek estuary in 1996 (Table 2). A total of 7714 captures were made during sampling from June to October. Gizzard shad was the most abundant species and comprised 54 percent of the total captures overall. Trout perch, longear sunfish, and largemouth bass were the least abundant species. Species diversity was highest in September with 21 species represented and lowest in October with 17 species.

Table 2.  Number of fish captured June to October 1996 from Crane Creek estuary on the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, Lucas County, Ohio.

* Denotes obligate wetland species according to Johnson (1989).

 

In general, fish abundance was lowest in June and rose to a peak in August then declined through October. Large catches from July to September corresponded to high average water temperatures and were mainly due to large seine catches of young-of-the-year fish.

Young-of-the-year fish began to appear in the catch in the July (Table 3) and were present through October. Young-of-the-year and juvenile fish from ten species were captured in the estuary and included: quillback carpsucker, gizzard shad, common carp, emerald shiner, spottail shiner, channel catfish, white bass, white perch, yellow perch and freshwater drum. Young-of-the-year gizzard shad and channel catfish were the most abundant species captured in 1996. The presence of these fish indicates that the area is being used as a nursery area. Only adult fish were captured in the estuary in June; and although not observed, spawning may be occurring in the estuary in the spring. The value of the estuary for fish reproduction will be more apparent following continued larval assessment.

 

Table 3.  Biotic data summaries for seine sampling from Crane Creek estuary, June to October 1996 (total length=mm).

Table 3.  Continued.

Table 3.  Concluded.

October 8-9
Species	Number	Average Total Length	Range Total Length
QUB	1	130	130
BLG	0	--	--
ROB	0	--	--
GIS	67	98.3	60-147
BLM	6	53.3	32-80
CAP	5	N/A	N/A
GOF	2	107	107
EMS	56	50.4	36-86
SFS	0	--	--
STS	11	69.4	60-87
BRB	0	--	--
CHC	23	63.9	53-80
LNG	0	--	--
WHB	1	138	138
WHP	23	79.5	58-290
LOP	2	75	66-84
YEP	0	--	--
FRD	0	--	--

* Effort per month was 4 hauls (2 hauls per site with a 100’ seine).
** Effort for June was 2 hauls (site 6 was not sampled due to nesting terns) and for July and September was 3.5 hauls (site 7 was sampled with a 15 m haul due to high fast water).

 

Sportfish Catch

Eleven species of common sportfish were captured in the estuary in 1996 (Table 4) and included black crappie, white crappie, bluegill, largemouth bass, rock bass, longear sunfish, pumpkinseed, channel catfish, white bass, white perch, and yellow perch. Juvenile channel catfish was the most abundant sportfish species captured and largemouth bass and white crappie were among the least. The greatest number of sportfish were taken in September and consisted mainly of young-of-the year channel catfish. Young-of-the-year and juvenile white bass, white perch, and yellow perch were also captured.

Table 4.  Biotic data summaries for sportfish captured from Crane Creek estuary, June to October 1996 (weight=g and total length=mm).

Table 4.  Continued.

Table 4.  Concluded.

October 8-9
Species	Number	Total Length Mean	Total Length Range	Mean Weight	Total Weight
BLC	0	--	--	--	--
WHC	0	--	--	--	--
BLG	0	--	--	--	--
LMB	1	275.0	275	310	310
ROB	4	186.7	147-220	155	620
LOS	0	--	--	--	--
PUM	0	--	--	--	--
CHC	119	77.7	53-100	3.9	460
WHB	17	116.6	53-184	26.9	458
WHP	47	78.0	58-290	5.4	254.5
YEP	1	90.0	90	4.5	4.5

 

Wetland Fish Species

Nine fish species considered to be obligate wetland species, species which depend on vegetation or wetland habitat for one or more of their life stages according to Johnson (1989), were captured in Crane Creek in 1996 (Table 2). Carp was the most commonly captured wetland dependent species while largemouth bass and white crappie were the least captured. Obligate wetland dependent species were fairly stable representatives in the fish community from June to September with 7-8 of the nine species present during each sampling. Representation dropped in October, mainly from the Centrarchid family. Decreases or lack of presence of obligate wetland species may indicate that wetland degradation or loss is affecting the fishery resource.

Although some obligate wetland species were captured, their abundance was low relative to the number of facultative wetland species encountered. Facultative wetland species are species which are more loosely tied to vegetation and wetland habitat than obligate users. Many of the species captured during sampling efforts were facultative wetland species which are a more stable portion of the community and are able to adjust to the loss of wetland continuity according to Johnson (1989). Gizzard shad, quillback carpsucker, white bass, channel catfish, yellow perch, and white perch were among facultative wetland species captured.

Gear Comparison

Impoundment gear captured a total of 1003 fish from 21 species, and seining a total of 6662 fish from 18 species. Centrarchid species were among those species more vulnerable to impoundment gear and Cyprinids to seining (Table 5). Overall, a greater number of fish were captured seining overall and catches comprised 97, 95, and 84 percent of the total catch for the months of July, August, and September respectively. Predominantly adult fish and larger sized species were captured with impoundment gear, while juvenile fish and small sized species were captured with a seine (Tables 3 & 6). Mesh sizes were larger on trap and hoop nets than on the seine allowing smaller fish to escape. Sportfish were more represented in impoundment gear, 11 of 11 species, than seining, 6 of 11 species.

Table 5. Number of fish captured in impoundment gear and seining from June to October 1996 in Crane Creek estuary on the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, Lucas County, Ohio.

Impoundment Gear							Seine
	Date							Date
Family and Species	6/4-5	7/9-10	8/5-6	9/4-5	10/8-9		Family and Species	6/4-5	7/9-10	8/5-6	9/4-5	10/8-9
CATOSTOMIDAE							CATOSTOMIDAE
Quillback	7	1	2	3	1		Quillback	0	312	81	92	1
CENTRARCHIDAE							CENTRARCHIDAE
Black crappie	2	1	3	10	0		Black crappie	0	0	0	0	0
White crappie	0	1	3	4	0		White crappie	0	0	0	0	0
Bluegill	3	10	5	5	0		Bluegill	0	0	0	1	0
Largemouth bass	1	0	0	1	1		Largemouth bass	0	0	0	0	0
Rockbass	1	1	0	0	4		Rockbass	0	0	0	2	0
Longear sunfish	0	0	0	1	0		Longear sunfish	0	0	0	0	0
Pumpkinseed	1	8	4	1	0		Pumpkinseed	0	0	0	0	0
CLUPEIDAE							CLUPEIDAE
Gizzard shad	5	2	42	56	177		Gizzard shad	16	676	2815	306	67
CYPRINIDAE							CYPRINIDAE
Bluntnose minnow	0	0	0	0	0		Bluntnose minnow	0	0	0	0	6
Common carp	6	5	8	13	0		Common carp	11	2	3	10	5
Goldfish	3	0	8	0	6		Goldfish	0	0	0	0	2
Emerald shiner	1	0	0	0	0		Emerald shiner	13	14	67	84	56
Spotfin shiner	0	0	0	0	0		Spotfin shiner	0	8	39	18	0
Spottail shiner	119	0	0	0	6		Spottail shiner	4	21	6	14	11
ICTALURIDAE							ICTALURIDAE
Brown bullhead	1	2	5	10	23		Brown bullhead	0	0	1	0	0
Channel catfish	8	2	9	18	93		Channel catfish	4	35	533	661	23
LEPISOSTEIDAE							LEPISOSTEIDAE
Longnose gar	1	1	2	4	0		Longnose gar	1	0	7	6	0
PERCICHTHYIDAE							PERCICHTHYIDAE
White bass	2	3	17	6	16		White bass	1	346	83	33	1
White perch	8	2	1	29	24		White perch	0	2	21	70	23
PERCIDAE							PERCIDAE
Logperch	0	0	0	0	0		Logperch	0	0	1	4	2
Yellow perch	3	0	6	1	1		Yellow perch	0	7	0	6	0
PERCOPSIDAE							PERCOPSIDAE
Troutperch	0	0	0	0	1		Troutperch	0	0	0	0	0
SCIAENIDAE							SCIAENIDAE
Freshwater drum	6	1	72	55	14		Freshwater drum	1	15	2	10	0
Impoundment N=	178	40	187	217	367		Seine N=	51	1438	3659	1317	197
Percent of Total Catch	77.73	2.71	4.86	13.92	63.28		Percent of Total Catch	22.27	97.29	95.14	84.48	33.97
Number of Species	18	14	15	16	13		Number of Species	8	11	13	15	11

 

Table 6. Biotic data summaries for impoundment gear sampling from Crane Creek estuary, June to October 1996 (total length=mm).

Table 6.  Continued.

Table 6. Concluded.

October 8-9
Species	Number	Average Total Length	Range Total Length
QUB	1	473.0	473
BLC	0	--	--
WHC	0	--	--
BLG	0	--	--
LMB	1	275.0	275
ROB	4	186.7	147-220
LOS	0	--	--
PUM	0	--	--
GIS	177	89.4	59-148
CAP	0	--	--
GOF	6	116.6	93-142
EMS	0	--	--
STS	6	106.5	64-130
BRB	23	262.8	126-340
CHC	93	78.3	55-100
LNG	0	--	--
WHB	16	115.3	53-184
WHP	24	76.4	59-117
LOP	0	--	--
YEP	1	90.0	90
TRP	1	77.0	77
FRD	14	132.7	93-375

* Effort per month was 5 nights ( 3 nights effort with 1.2 m trapnet and 2 nights effort with 0.9 m hoopnet).
** Effort for July was 4 nights (site 3 trapnet was fouled) and for October was 4 nights (site 3 trapnet was fouled).

 

Few larval fish were captured in 1996 and larval netting was inconclusive due to initiation of this sampling gear late in the season. Catches made during larval sampling consisted of young-of-the-year emerald shiner and channel catfish. These catches were made during August and September, with largest numbers of captures in September.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This project was funded by the Lake Erie Protection Fund small grant program and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Challenge Cost-Share program in 1996. We would like to thank and acknowledge the staff of the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge and Ross Adams, Larry Martin, Stan Cornelius and Marge Miller for project cooperation, equipment storage, and fiscal coordination.

LITERATURE CITED

Herdendorf, C.E. and K.A. Krieger. 1989. Overview of Lake Erie and its estuaries within the Great Lakes ecosystem. In Lake Erie Estuarine Systems: Issues, resources, status, and management, ed. K.A. Krieger, pp. 1-34. NOAA Estuary-of-the-Month Seminar Series No. 14. NOAA Estuarine Programs Office, Washington, D.C.

Johnson, D.L. 1989. Lake Erie wetlands: fisheries considerations. In Lake Erie Estuarine Systems: Issues, resources, status, and management, ed. K.A. Krieger, pp. 257-274. NOAA Estuary-of-the-Month Seminar Series No. 14. NOAA Estuarine Programs Office, Washington, D.C.

Ohio Department of Transportation. 1987. Bureau of Environmental Services, Biological Survey Report, pages 13-17. Transportation project WOO/OTT 2-0.00/0.00, PF 1247

U.S. Department of the Interior. 1994. Metzger Marsh coastal wetland restoration project: draft environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact.

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Appendix I.  Species Codes

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