Conservation Fisheries, Inc.

Newsletter #24 September 2004

Great News for Abrams Creek Recovery!

We've been busy this week trying to fit in as much field work as possible between hurricanes! Many of the larger rivers are still up or turbid from Frances and we're fearing the same may happen once again with Ivan on the way! We were, however, able to get into Abrams Creek to try to monitor the progress of the ongoing reintroduction efforts there. Anyone that is familiar with our organization will almost certainly know that this is a project we have been working on for nearly 15 years! Reintroduction of extirpated fish populations is something we have come to recognize as a long term project!

We have been seeing very encouraging results from our surveys for several years. Smoky madtoms, yellowfin madtoms and duskytail darters are all reproducing in and around the areas where we have been stocking them and we have seen some evidence of dispersal into other reaches of the creek. 

But, yesterday (September 15, 2004) we saw perhaps the best evidence yet that our work is really beginning to pay off! The lowermost stretch of Abrams Creek is most easily accessed by taking a boat up the Abrams arm of Chilhowee Reservoir to where the stream empties into the impoundment. Because we usually have to enlist the help of someone that actually has a boat, we have only made a few snorkel surveys in this lowermost portion of Abrams Creek over the years. Yesterday, we were able to do just that! 

From the impoundment, we rock-hopped upstream for about 1/2 mile to a nice pool at the mouth of Mill Creek. At this site, we found five young-of-the-year yellowfin madtoms! Shortly thereafter, we found two smoky madtoms (one was a YOY)! These fish would have had to disperse a minimum of almost four miles from the furthest downstream stocking site ( Bell Branch). To make a good day even more interesting, while waiting at the boat (tied up just at the impounded part of the creek), we snorkeled around for a few minutes. Here, actually in the impounded portion of the creek, we found one more young yellowfin!

Yellowfin madtom in Citico Creek

Finding these fish at this site demonstrates that these species are dispersing well at least downstream in Abrams. This is nearly a four mile dispersal in less than 10 years (the first fish stocked into Bell Branch in 1995). This would suggest that this population is doing very well. Certainly, more than a few individuals would have to be present for us to have found this many during daylight hours! The day (and night) before this Pat and a crew had hiked into Bell Branch on Abrams Creek. We usually try to make at least one trip into this section of the stream each year. That night, they saw four yellowfin and 11 smoky madtoms! The yellowfins were all adults and of probably at least two year classes and none of these were tagged (indicating all wild reproduction). Of the smokys, there was a mixture of YOYs and adults, again, none tagged.

Smoky madtom

The night before this, we worked just below the Abrams campground in an area we have not stocked in years. Here, we saw an adult yellowfin (not tagged) and 11 duskytail darters. We have not stocked this area with duskytails since 1993! 

About a week before, we worked the Abrams campground area at night. We saw an amazing 42 duskytail darters! 

As I said, the news at Abrams Creek is encouraging! Still lots of field work to be done this fall! 

J. R. Shute