blake
Life Member
<span style='font-size: 14pt'>From the IDNR:</span>
Paddlefish Tracking, Poaching Concerns
by Joe Wilkinson
The air was beyond 'crisp.' It was just plain cold. Luckily, the north wind was blocked a little by the Bellevue lock and dam on the Mississippi River. We bobbed a hundred yards below it, watching water and late winter ice pour over the rollers. "Let out more line until you feel (the half pound sinker) bounce on the bottom. And keep the reel and line facing straight up. Otherwise, it'll cut the line," advised Denny Weiss.
Our target? Paddlefish. For years, researchers have monitored the well being of this species; quite possibly the ugliest creature under the water. Evolving basically unchanged for 300-million years, these pre-Jurassic Park escapees now face 21st Century threats; migration blockage created by the lock and dam system, sedimentation and other water quality issues. In the past few years, though, poaching has triggered that evolutionary alarm big time.
Weiss, from the Department of Natural Resources Bellevue fisheries station, was pointing our small boat over likely paddlefish holes. Fisheries biologist Mike Steuck and I were sweeping sturdy 8-foot poles-with 20 pound line and large treble hooks-up and down through the water column. With a little luck, one of the hooks would catch the leathery skin of a paddlefish; 60 to 80 feet below. You don't catch a paddlefish with lure or bait. You snag it.
Steuck had the first hit. Tip up, line taut, he slowly cranked a 20-pounder to the boat. Weiss grabbed the long, flat 'spoonbill' and tugged it on board. The water-bound dinosaur flopped slowly as the two researchers worked it up. Within a couple minutes, they had its weight and length, applied a small ID band and checked to see if it was a recapture. There was no telltale beep as Weiss passed a hand-held metal detector over its bill, indicating it had no previous ID tag. Then, it was back to the water.
For 15 years, Iowa has been part of a 23-state research program, through the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. MICRA (Mississippi Interstate Cooperative Resources Association) tracks paddlefish growth, migration and overall well-being through the Mississippi-Missouri River systems. On the Missouri River, some have moved more than 400 miles. On the Mississippi, upstream movement is held up by the dams. Moving into larger tributaries, though, it is not uncommon for one to be tracked below Iowa City on the Iowa River, or near Cedar Rapids, on the Cedar River.
However, these days that migration is sometimes from river bed to gourmet shelf. With the collapse of the Caspian Sea caviar industry, demand for the pricey fish eggs has North American sturgeon and paddlefish looking pretty good to the Caviar Crowd. Less than three years ago, an ounce of top Beluga caviar was all yours for $100. Today, gourmet websites list it for $300...but also as 'out of stock' and prohibited for interstate trade. Paddlefish roe, or eggs, go for $18 an ounce...up from $4 in late 2006!
Now, I've never tried caviar. Well, there was that dare when I was 12 or 13 at Holiday Lake, as we were cleaning bluegills for supper. Maybe that ruined my palate for the high brow delicacy. Still, at $300 an ounce...or even $4...I look elsewhere for something to spread on a cracker. The demand is there, though. And it threatens a species that's gotten along just fine, while dinosaurs, mountain ranges and ancient civilizations rose and fell.
Recreational anglers can still snag paddlefish. The daily limit is two and the short, cold weather season really shouldn't put much of a dent in the population. In fact, reproduction has been good over last eight years. The concern, though, is whether the big 30 to 50 pounders and the occasional 60 pounder, will be there in the future. "Only about 11 to 12 percent of the paddlefish we have seen (in the study) have been over 20 pounds," warns Weiss. "Those are our reproducing females that we need to protect. History has shown that whenever an animal is overharvested for its eggs, it disappears from the Earth."
So, steps are being taken. Fisheries and law enforcement officials are worried about illegal commercial harvest of paddlefish; the big ones which are ripped open, have their eggs removed and discarded. With a size limit on those fish (one length limit being considered is 33 inches from the beady little eyes to the fork in the tail), an illegal operator would have no explanation for why any large, egg-bearing fish might be on board. Iowa's Natural Resource Commission may get a look at proposed restrictions this year, in time for the 2010 fishing regulations.
Paddlefish; Retro-PLUS
They process oxygen from the water through their gills. They swim like a fish. Beyond that, paddlefish don't act or look a whole lot like your average bluegill, bass or catfish.
Relatively unchanged for 300 million years (predating dinosaurs), their 'spoonbill' sets them apart at first glance. Electrosensory receptors in it help locate food. Filter feeders, they swim with their mouths wide open, processing zooplankton for food. Their skin is tough as leather-no scales. They rely on cartilage rather than bone for a skeleton. A slow growing, slow maturing fish, they only spawn every two or three years; one more reason cited for tougher harvest limits.
PM
Ron Wyllie
Southwest Iowa IBA Area Representative
rwyllie@iowawhitetail.com
