Issue #37 October 2007
Shoal Creek Progress
In 2005, the proposed
Nonessential Experimental Population for the reintroduction of spotfin
chub (Erimonax monachus) and boulder darters (Etheostoma
wapiti) into Shoal Creek was approved. I should say “the long
awaited NEP” as it took quite a few years to get the proposal through
all of the appropriate channels! I won’t go into the details of an NEP,
but the short story is that it allowed CFI and all parties involved to
proceed with a project to try to reestablish these two federally
protected fish into Shoal Creek. The last time either had been seen
there was in the late 1800s!
Presently, boulder darters
(Endangered) are known only from the Elk River in south-central
Tennessee and north-central Alabama. Spotfin chub (Threatened) are known
from widely dispersed sites in the upper and middle Tennessee River
drainage. Several point sources of pollution that had plagued Shoal
Creek for many years have been cleaned up. Subsequently, water quality
in the stream has improved. Shoal Creek now supports an impressive
diversity of fishes and habitat looks great for both of these fish. The
time looked right to attempt reestablishment of these rare fishes into
the creek. The photo above shows a boulder darter in Shoal Creek,
while the photo below illustrates the good boulder darter habitat there.
On top of this, we had a willing partner, International Paper, who owned property along some of the nicest sections of Shoal Creek. International Paper was not only willing to have us reintroduce the boulder darters into the stream adjacent to their property, they also committed financially to help support this project!
In spring,2005, the first propagated boulder darters were released into Shoal Creek near Iron City, TN. Since that time, nearly 1500 boulder darters have been stocked there. Our subsequent monitoring often produces fishes that have been released that year, but evidence of reproduction has yet to be documented. This fall, we found 14 boulder darters, mostly tagged, and presumed to be from fish stocked this spring. Shoal Creek has so much good habitat (large, flat slab-rocks over clean, substrate in flowing runs) that locating the fish can be difficult! The proverbial "needle in a haystack" applies here! All of the fish we saw this fall were found in the general vicinity of the release site. Shoal Creek is just deep and swift enough where some of this good habitat occurs to make snorkeling difficult. Visibility is sometimes limited as well. This is one place the current drought has helped our work. We were able to access sections that have been difficult to work in the past, and good water clarity allowed us to more easily survey for the fish.
It is very encouraging to see these fish in Shoal Creek! They have grown and appear to be healthy. We have learned from past experiences that reintroductions can take time! We will continue to look for reproductive success and continue to stock our propagated fish. The habitat looks so good that we are confident they will eventually become established.
But, it seems I’ve strayed
from the original topic! This is the first year we have stocked spotfin
chubs into Shoal Creek. Parental stock was collected from the Emory
River in East Tennessee last year. In the photo below, adult
spotfin broodstock swims in one of our hatchery aquariums.
The first fish were spawned late in summer 2006. This late start resulted in only a few hundred fish being produced. These combined with some of the largest spotfins produced this year made up the 600 or so fish we stocked this fall downstream from the boulder darter release site. This has been an unusually good production year for the Emory River spotfins. Therefore, we hope to be able to stock several thousand next summer. We are excited about the possibilities for spotfins in Shoal Creek. We recently re-surveyed the section from where the boulder darters were released down to the Iron City bridge (about 3 miles). Spotfins are benthic minnows that like clean, current-swept expanses of bedrock, of which plenty exists in this stretch of river.
The
photo at right shows baby spotfins ready for release into Shoal Creek.
The likelihood of our finding these fish next spring is pretty low! Our hope
is that some of them will find each other and some natural reproduction
will occur. We will continue to introduce more propagated fish and
hopefully, in time these two imperiled fish will again be a part of
the Shoal Creek fauna.
>>Click here for a short video of the newly released spotfins in Shoal Creek.
I can’t emphasize enough the importance of corporate involvement in endangered species restoration and we would like to sincerely thank International Paper (http://www.internationalpaper.com/) for the support they have continued to provide over the past few years! In addition, the folks at Shoal Creek Canoe Run (http://shoalcreekcanoerun.com/index.html) were very helpful providing canoes and shuttles. They’re nice folks and Shoal Creek is a beautiful place to float. And, for you fishermen, we’ve seen some nice smallmouth while snorkeling! They offer a variety of trips, so check them out!