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September/October, 2003

Fall Harvest a Bumper Crop at the Genoa National Fish Hatchery

It has been a long dry summer as far as the farmers in Wisconsin, Iowa, and Missouri are concerned, but the fish at the Genoa National Fish Hatchery like it just fine, thank you! Every fall, as fish metabolism slows with colder temperatures, rearing ponds at the hatchery are drained and the fish are brought in to holding tanks for inventory.

This year has been a good one for fingerling survival and growth. Over 95,000 6 inch walleye, 15,000 4–6 inch smallmouth bass, and 12,000 4–6 inch largemouth bass were harvested. As icing on the cake, a large pond at the station that is now used to raise disease free minnows for forage fish production was stocked with 50 gallons of broodstock minnows in the spring. At last count, over 1700 gallons of minnows were harvested. These minnows will be used to feed the bass and walleye that will be carried over through the winter.

Just some of the walleye produced at Genoa NFH

These "host fish" will be used to propagate the Endangered Higgins Eye Pearly mussel in the spring. Walleye and bass that are not used in mussel recovery are stocked in National Wildlife Refuge and tribal waters to support ongoing fishery management programs. These fish create recreational fisheries that are carefully managed to best meet the needs of the receiving waters.Skip navigation links

Genoa Participates in MOCC at La Crosse

Employees from Genoa National Fish Hatchery participated in the Motorboat Operator Certification Course held at the La Crosse FRO. Dan Kumlin and Jeff Lockington were two of the instructors of the MOCC while Hatchery Manager Doug Aloisi and Mussel Biologist Tony Brady were two of the ten participants taking the course. Dan and Jeff instructed the participants using their many years of boat operations on the Upper Mississippi River. The setting for the course was the beautiful Lake Onalaska, where students learned the finer points of motorboat operations, trailer handling and towing, and most importantly safety rules of the road for boat operations. On behalf of the participants, we would like to thank Dan, Jeff, John Decker, Bill Thrune and Joe Reid for their time dedicated to boating safety.

— Tony Brady

Higgins-eye Pearly Mussel Infestation Takes Place in Iowa

Genoa National Fish Hatchery divers (members of the Region 3 dive team), descended into the depths of the Mississippi River at Cordova, IL on 8 October 2003 to collect gravid Higgins-eye pearly mussels. With help from Illinois Department of Natural Resources and the Army Corp of Engineers, they were able to collect 16 gravid female Higgins-eye mussels. These mussels were used as a part of an ongoing effort by Genoa NFH, Iowa DNR, and other members of the Higgins-eye Mussel Coordination Team to recover the endangered Higgins-eye pearly mussel to the inland waters of Iowa.

Tony Brady collecting glochidia from a female Higgins-eye

The combined resources of the Mussel Coordination Team allowed the group to inoculate 1800 hatchery and wild caught fish with Higgins-eye glochidia (larval mussels). On 15 October 2003, 500 hundred bass (largemouth and smallmouth) produced at Genoa NFH, 1230 Iowa DNR produced walleye, and 70 wild caught fish were inoculated with Higgins-eye glochidia and then released into the Iowa River near Iowa City.

Roger Gordon checking gills for infestation rates

Current statistics indicate that over 70% of all mussel species are imperiled or in decline throughout much of their historic range (Williams et al. 1993). Factors contributing to the decline include pollution, sedimentation, and the introduction of zebra mussels in to the upper Mississippi River and its tributaries. We have seen drastic declines not only in Higgins-eye populations but in many other mussel populations as well. By inoculating the fish with Higgins-eye glochidia and releasing them into the river, our goal is that the fish will deliver transformed juvenile Higgins-eye mussels into suitable habitat in which the juveniles will be able to grow and begin repopulating the river. — Tony Brady

Genoa National Fish Hatchery Presents at 4-H Field Days

Environmental Education Field Days were held by 4-H on September 3rd and 4th at Sidie Hollow Park, near Viroqua, WI. The staff from Genoa National Fish Hatchery participated in the event by setting up a display and presenting to the approximately 100 students. This opportunity allowed us to share information to the students about the operations of a Federal Fish Hatchery.

While sportfish reared at the Genoa NFH dominated the discussion, many students were interested in our mussel program and shared their mussel stories about their parents and grandparents "clamming" for pearl button shells. Mussel shells from the upper Mississippi River were on display for the students to look at and touch. However, our 100 gallon aquarium which contained a variety of fish from largemouth and smallmouth bass, crappie, perch, walleye, lake sturgeon, flathead and blue catfish, and brook trout, captivated the students most of all.

The students' interest in the fish allowed for a great discussion on how the Genoa NFH staff collects adult fish for spawning, and with the use of a fyke net set up for the display, we were able to answer all questions in a way that sparked the students' imaginations. The Field Days are an annual event which is sponsored by the University of Wisconsin-Extension and is organized by the 4–H Youth Development Agent, Suzan Marino.

— Nick Starzl

Native Mussel Restoration Efforts Are a Success for Black Sandshell

During the spring of 2003, using monies for native mussel restoration from the Refuge challenge grant program, the staff from Genoa National Fish Hatchery and Minnesota Department of Natural Resources attempted to culture Black Sandshell in cages at Lake Pepin, MN. Twenty walleye were placed in a mussel culture cage located in Lake Pepin this spring. Fish were released from the cage in July when a sample of the walleye kept at Genoa NFH had finished transforming juveniles. The cages were checked on 30 September to reveal 96 Black Sandshell juveniles. These mussels were returned to their cage and placed back in Lake Pepin for another growing season. To our knowledge, this is the first known successful propagation and culture of Black Sandshell. Upon continued survival, these juveniles will be used to begin the recovery of declining populations of Black Sandshell in the upper Mississippi River drainage.

On the heels of our Black Sandshell success and a very successful season of producing Higgins-eye pearly mussels in cages, Genoa NFH and the MN DNR teamed up in October to attempt the culture Washboard mussels, a MN state listed species. Divers from MN DNR collected Washboard from pool 3 of the Mississippi River, while a mussel biologist from Genoa NFH determined if the Washboards were gravid. After 4 gravid individuals were collected, they were transported to the MN DNR office in Lake City, MN, where the glochidia were tested for viability. Two of the four individuals contained viable glochidia. Glochidia from these individuals were used to infest 7 channel catfish. These catfish will be held over winter in Lake Pepin. The reason for holding the fish over winter is to mimic the natural temperature regime that the Washboard glochidia would experience in nature. The goal of this project is to determine if Washboards can be cultured in similar fashion and with similar success as the Higgins-eye pearly mussel.

— Tony Brady

Genoa Staff Assists at Masters Walleye Championship

October 15th through the 18th marked the date for the Cabela's sponsored walleye tournament located at the Cabela's retail store in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. The public was invited to attend and the admission was free. The tournament brought together 50 teams from throughout the country, all competing for the largest three-day combined weight to win the grand prize… $26,000.

The tournament was held at the Cabela's store

A pro/am event preceded the championship competition on October 15th. An amateur angler was assigned to each of the 50 teams, providing them a once in a lifetime fishing tutorial from the best of the best in walleye tournament angling. The boats departed from the St. Feriole Island at 7:30 a.m. daily. Weigh-ins began at 3:00 p.m. The largest walleye brought to the scale weighed in at over nine pounds!

Doug Aloisi loads walleye caught during the tournament for later release

The Genoa National Fish Hatchery was able to help by transporting the walleye back to the Mississippi River with their 450 gallon fish distribution truck. Cabela's employees and members of the local Falling Rock Walleye Club assisted the MWC staff with boat inspections, launching and the weigh-ins. Mild weather each day contributed to a successful event.

A booth and an aquarium were set up at the event as well. Attendees were able to stop, look at the fish, and browse over many Fish & Wildlife Service brochures on the table. The Genoa National Fish Hatchery releases 2 – 8 million walleye fry each year into the Mississippi, which continually benefits the river to be a great place to fish, even if you don't win $26,000!

— Nick Starzl

Lake Trout Restoration Activities in Region 3 Received a Valuable "Upgrade"

Personnel from Genoa National Fish hatchery traveled to the Finger Lakes area of Region 5 recently to assist State of New York fishery biologists in the state's annual collection of wild lake trout gametes. Federal authorities are extremely interested in these particular populations of Lake Trout as a possible valuable key to FWS restoration efforts in the Great Lakes. Recent studies have shown higher survival of these particular "strains" of trout in some areas of Lake Huron where Sea Lamprey infestations are a recognized limiting factor in lake trout restoration.

Jeff Lockington collecting wild lake trout

Several thousand progeny, resulting from the over 100 pairs of fish spawned, will be raised at the Genoa National Fish Hatchery Isolation Unit for the next 18 months. While at Genoa they will be subjected to a series of rigorous disease inspections by the LaCrosse Fish Health Center before they are eventually transferred to other regional lake trout production hatcheries to begin their lives as broodstock for the production of millions of eggs and fish annually. It is hoped that these fish, with their unique characteristics, will aid in the long term successful restoration of this nationally significant species.

— Roger Gordon

Wolf River Lake Sturgeon Restoration Project a Shocking Experience

Fishery personnel from the Genoa National Fish Hatchery traveled to the Wolf River in north-central Wisconsin to participate in collection efforts for adult Lake Sturgeon. Hatchery crews were asked to participate in a three day project to collect, transport, radio-tag, and eventually release adult lake sturgeon from waters in the upper Wolf River system into waters within the Menominee Indian Nation.

Genoa NFH biologists assisted WI DNR electrofishing crews in the collection portion of the project by operating a capture/recovery boat used to revive and transport captured sturgeon from remote sites on the river. Once captured, hatchery personnel evaluated the fish and either released or transported the fish to staging areas until their eventual release within the Menominee Nation waters of the Wolf River.

Lake Sturgeon being evaluated

Biologists and technicians from LaCrosse Fishery Resource Office, Genoa National Fish Hatchery, U.S. Geological Survey, and Menominee Department of Conservation installed radio telemetry transmitters in 20 adult fish prior to release in reservation waters. The fish will be monitored over the next several years for survival and movement patterns. The long term goal is the establishment of resident populations of adult lake sturgeon within reservation waters of the upper Wolf River system. — Roger Gordon

Regional Dive Team Searches Muddy Waters of Upper Mississippi for Rare Treasure

Divers from the Region 3 Dive team, stationed out of Genoa National Fish Hatchery, plied the turbid waters of the Upper Mississippi River between Minneapolis, MN and Cordova, IL during the month of October looking for buried treasures. Not the shiny kind that you wear on your finger or that may pay for that retirement home on the lake, but rather the more valuable ones known as endangered species. Biologists from the hatchery, working with Minnesota DNR personnel, conducted mussel surveys within Pool 9 on the Upper Mississippi River Wildlife and Fish Refuge near DeSoto, Wisconsin.

The divers identified over 20 species of native mussels that still inhabit this portion of the refuge, including the federally-endangered Higgins-eye Pearly Mussel. This portion of the Mississippi River has been severely impacted by the recent invasion of the exotic Zebra Mussel. Mussel density and species composition was markedly lower than recorded historic levels.

Hatchery divers also conducted assessment surveys on several known populations of the endangered Higgins-eye Pearly Mussel within the upper river. These sites included a recovering population established in 2001 near Minneapolis, MN and a site located within the Savannah District of the Upper Mississippi River Wildlife and Fish Refuge, near Cordova, IL. Divers gathered data on both populations, as well as collected over 15 gravid female mussels for recovery work being carried out by the hatchery.

Divers getting ready to "treasure hunt" in Pool 2 near Minneapolis MN

— Roger Gordon

For additional information about any of these projects please contact the author at Genoa National Fish Hatchery.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service