Start of Sturgeon Season 2012!

Well it’s that time of year again!  On May 23 Kathlina took our team of new interns down to Warm Spring National Fish Hatchery to pick up our baby sturgeon for the year, a little over 2,000 fish!  These are juvenile Lake Sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens), a very special fish that used to be abundant in the Tennessee River.  However, due to overfishing and habitat degradation they became extirpated from Tennessee in the 1960’s.  With recent water quality improvements, TNACI has been part of a long term program dedicated to returning this fish to Tennessee waters. 

Kathlina and Carlos at Warm Springs National Fish Hatchery

Kathlina and two of our husbandry interns, Jessica and Stephen

These babies are tiny now, approximately 2-3cm (0.8-1.2 inches).  But the fish can grow to be 8 ft long and around 300 pounds!  They are also incredibly long-lived, the oldest on record being 154 years old. Your grandchildren may encounter these baby fish in the future!  Since the start of this project, around 100,000 Lake Sturgeon have been released into the Tennessee River.

The fish that we picked up today will be housed at our husbandry warehouse until they are approximately 6 months old.  In the fall we will release them into the Tennessee or Cumberland River.  Stay tuned over the summer to hear updates on our sturgeon nursery!

Sustainable Seafood Dinner with Greenlife Grocery

The Tennessee Aquarium and the Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute have been working on spreading the message of sustainable seafood into the Chattanooga community.  In March, we took a group to Pickett’s Trout Ranch to talk about local farm-raised seafood options.  This month, we took a different approach by taking people to the grocery store to learn how to prepare and shop for healthy sustainable seafood.

Greenlife Grocery is one of our nine partners for Serve & Protect.  This small grocery store has been a staple in the Chattanooga community for many years and the go-to place to find local sustainable food.  They also have a wonderful team of chefs that perform cooking demonstrations and organize catering.  Greenlife was responsible for the delicious appetizers at the Serve & Protect fundraising event in September 2011 and one of their chefs, Anastasia, helped Alton Brown prepare for his cooking demonstration that evening.  She was there on Thursday as well and it was great to see her again!

After introductions, one of their chefs, Nick, began demonstrating how to cook whole trout.  It was so simple!  Take a butterflied de-boned trout and stuff it with lemon and parsley.  Cover the entire fish in salt and cook it for 45 minutes at 350°.

This little taste was the finished product and boy, was it delicious!  It’s an easy recipe that I can’t wait to try at home.

After the cooking demonstration, dinner was served!  We had an amazing four course meal with two wine pairings.

Wine pairings

  

First Course: Smoked trout guacamole 

Second Course: Maine lobster ceviche

        

Third Course:  Grilled halibut taco

Last, but not least, dessert:  Watermelon gelato with dark chocolate chips

After the delicious dinner, we went down to the seafood counter to talk about how to buy fresh, sustainable seafood at the grocery store.  Greenlife uses two ratings: BlueOcean Institute (BOI) and the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC).  BOI is a colored rating system: avoid red, take caution with yellow, green is sustainable.  Greenlife and Whole Foods do not carry any fish under the red rating.  The MSC is a third party certification agency that evaluated fisheries to determine if they are sustainable.

If you are at a grocery store that does not use this system, buying American harvested seafood is the best way to be a sustainable seafood shopper.  According to a recent report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, fishery management in U.S. waters has been successful.  Six depleted stocks have rebuilt and only 20% of U.S. fish stocks are considered overfished in comparison to worldwide where 33% of stocks are considered overfished. 

We had a great time, and cannot wait to do it again!  Thanks Greenlife!

TNACI and Greenlife team.

Endangered Species Day

What image pops into your head when you think of an endangered species?  A panda?  A tiger?  Maybe a whale?  These are all critically endangered animals whose images tend to create a sense of wonder and a need to conserve the remote habitats in which they live.  However, some of the most critically endangered animals live in the southeastern U.S. and our day to day actions can lead to their conservation or extinction.  Endangered Species Day is on May 18^th, so here is some information on the importance of conserving endangered species and what regulations are in place to protect them.

The Southeastern U.S. is one of the most biodiverse areas in the world when it comes to aquatic animals.  TNACI’s Dr. Anna George said in a recent interview, “It’s like an underwater rainforest.”  Many of the animals that live in this part of the country don’t live anywhere else, and many are threatened or endangered.  There are numerous ways that we are trying to protect these animals and it takes collaboration between legislators, regulatory agencies and the general public to ensure that these animals are around for our grandchildren. 

One major piece of legislation that protects endangered species in the U.S. is the Endangered Species Act (ESA).  Passed in 1973, it is the first significant law that called for the protection of endangered species. The U.S. was the first country to implement such a piece of legislation and other countries have modeled environmental law after the ESA. There are three strategies within the law that aim to prevent extinction:

1. Commercially banning the trade and importation of endangered species
2. Forbidding federal agencies from harming species
3. Forbidding the killing or “taking” of an endangered species. 

In the 1970s, the ESA played a major role in the fight to protect one of the southeastern U.S.’s native fish: the snail darter (Percina tanasi).  The Tennessee Valley Authority proposed the construction of Tellico Dam, which would flood farm land and historic sites, and damage crucial habitat for this native fish that only occurs in the Tennessee River and its tributaries.  After the darter was discovered in the construction area by an ichthyology professor at the University of Tennessee, a law student from the same school started the ball rolling on a lawsuit against TVA for violating the ESA. The case made it all the way to the Supreme Court, where the court ruled in the snail darter’s favor.  Construction on Tellico Dam had to stop.  Later, a mandate was passed in a completely unrelated bill that gave TVA the go ahead to finish Tellico Dam despite the Supreme Court’s ruling.  Though the dam was ultimately built despite the court’s ruling, it has been an example of environmental law being upheld in court.

Sometimes it is difficult to trace who exactly is harming endangered species.  In the case of aquatic animals, pollution is the cause for population decline, and virtually every stream and river is suffering.  Non-point source pollution is any pollution not contained in a pipe that enters a waterway.  In other words, a majority of the pollution entering our streams and rivers is non point source pollution.  While images of a polluted river might include a river covered in litter or water that has an oily sheen, sometimes we cannot tell just by looking if the water quality is suffering.  Some animals can be an indicator that something is wrong before humans are able to detect it.  One area where this is true is the Conasauga River, one of the most diverse rivers in the world!  Agricultural runoff has caused some areas of the river to be unsuitable for aquatic organisms.  One of the special fish that live here is the Conasauga logperch (Percina jenkinsi).  As you can tell from it's name, it is related to the snail darter as they share the same genus.  They are adorable little fish that flip rocks in the water looking for food. The are special for many reasons.  They have a very small native range, but a high genetic diversity, which is unusual.  They are also an indicator species:  if the water isn't clean enough for the logperch, it isn't clean enough for animals and most likely not clean enough for humans to use for recreation.  They are one of the desperate dozen: a fish that is critically endangered and drastic measures need to be taken to ensure this fish survives.  TNACI and CFI have been raising juvenile Conasauga logperch in captivity and releasing them into the wild, taking care that these captive logperch have the same high diversity as the wild population.  We are celebrating Endangered Species Day by releasing some of these fish with CFI.  Georgia Department of Natural Resources, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are also partners on this project. This is just one of TNACI's many conservation projects on endangered species!

Conasauga Logperch (Percina jenkinsi)

However, it is not the job of just scientists to preserve our special aquatic organisms and we need your help!  So what can you do? Here are some ideas:

1. Avoid using fertilizers and pesticides on your lawn and garden if possible. These chemicals cause a wide range of problems for water quality.  Some are directly toxic to wildlife, while others cause the oxygen in the water to drastically decrease.
2. Keep your car well maintained.  Ensuring your car isn’t leaking oils or other fluids will keep these harmful chemicals out of the water.
3. Wash your car on your lawn.  Plants and soil can act as a natural filter.  By washing your car on the lawn instead of on the driveway, some of the soap and grime will be retained by the soil and grass.
4. Participate in local clean-up efforts and environmental action groups.
5. Learn more at www.tnaci.org/takeaction.aspx 

Lake Sturgeon Release in Nashville, Tennessee

There have been a lot of things to celebrate in April:  Easter, Earth Day, the coming of spring.  For us at the Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute and the Tennessee Aquarium, it was a month to celebrate milestones.  The Tennessee Aquarium celebrated its 20^th birthday and the opening of a new River Giants exhibit, and TNACI celebrated the continued success of the Lake Sturgeon Reintroduction program, one of our local river giants.  Each year we release juvenile sturgeon that are about six months old and six inches long.  Occasionally we hold fish a few months longer so that they can be released at larger sizes, which is exactly what we did this year.

Lake Sturgeon are very special fish that live in many rivers across the U.S.  They are a river giant in their own right. The largest on record are 8 ft and 310 pounds, though now sizes of 5 ft and 100 pounds are more common. They can live up to 150 years and they do not reach sexual maturity until they are in their teens. While they are not listed as federally endangered, Lake Sturgeon are considered imperiled in Tennessee.  In the 1960s, a combination of habitat degradation and overfishing caused the Lake Sturgeon to become extirpated from the Tennessee River.  After some improvements in dam discharge practices as well as benefits from the Clean Water Act in 1972, a group of agencies decided to work together to bring the Lake Sturgeon back to the Tennessee River. The Tennessee River Lake Sturgeon Working Group partners include the Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, World Wildlife Fund, Tennessee Tech University, the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Tennessee Valley Authority, United States Geological Survey, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and Conservation Fisheries, Inc.

On April 27^th, we drove up to Nashville to meet up with TWRA and a group of students from Mt. Juliet, Tennessee.  We met them at Shelby Park near Shelby Bottoms Nature Center in downtown Nashville where the Cumberland River runs through the city.  Dr. Zeb Hogan, the host of Monster Fish on the National Geographic channel was in town to help the Tennessee Aquarium open the new River Giants exhibit, so he decided to come along and help us with the release. 

Dr. Anna George and Dr. Zeb Hogan

TWRA brought thirty fish that were 2-3 years old and ranged in size from 24-30 inches.  They are still very young, and will not be old enough to spawn for at least another ten years if not longer. These fish were born at Warm Springs Hatchery in Georgia and some of them lived with the TNACI for a few months before they were taken to TWRA’s hatchery. 

Each fish has a scute, the bony plate that runs along the side and back of a sturgeon, removed that designates how old it is.  We do this so that when we catch the fish on monitoring trips, we can determine how old it is. To date, 130,000 juvenile Lake Sturgeon have been released across Tennessee.

Anna showing Zeb which scute has been removed on this fish.

Fish were removed from Springfield Hatchery's truck and carried to the water by pairs of students. 

Anna helps a student remove the sturgeon from the net that carried it from the truck to the water.

A fish swims from Zeb Hogan's hands into its new environment. 

We all had a great time!  TNACI got to drive to Nashville in style in our River Giants Volkswagen Beetle. 

The TNACI team!

The kids had a good time too.  Many took the opportunity to touch these majestic fish before letting them swim away into their new home.

  

We hope that this experience will inspire these students to be conservationists.

 

All of the students who helped us with the release.

You don’t have to be a scientist to be a conservationist. Here are some easy conservation actions you can do at home.

Field Notes: Week 2 on the Conasauga River

After a week of some cooler weather, TNACI and CFI returned to the Conasauga River for two more days of field work.  We spent the first day catching more Conasauga Logperch and the second day  releasing juveniles at various locations in the Conasauga River. 

On April 12 we worked a 3 mile stretch upstream of the site sampled on April 5.  While the procedures for this week were the same as last week, the conditions were very different.  The water temperature was 50°F when we arrived in the morning; cold enough that some members of the team wore dry suits.  The rest of us wore 7 mm wet suits and everyone wore gloves and hoods to stay as warm as possible.

Dr. Anna George in a dry suit.

Despite the chilly conditions, it was another successful day on the river.  We were able to get nine more fin clips from Percina jenkinsi.  We also caught a few Mobile Logperch (P. kathae) who were also photographed and fin clipped.

Photographing and fin clipping Logperch

In the field it can sometimes be challenging to distinguish between Conasauga Logperch and Mobile Logperch initially.  However, upon closer observation there are some differences in the two species that make them distinguishable from one another.  One of the most distinguishing features is the red or orange color in the first dorsal fin of the Mobile Logperch.  The markings on the two species are different as well.  While both have bars, or “dorsal saddles,” down their body, the markings on the Mobile Logperch are a bit duller.  Conasauga Logperch have more defined stripes, a "teardrop" marking under the eye, and no color on the dorsal fin.  

Conasauga Logperch (Percina jenkinsi)

Mobile Logperch (Percina kathae)

While we were on the hunt for the very special Conasauga Logperch we were fortunate enough to see a few more aquatic animals that call the Conasauga home.

Coosa Darter

Crayfish

Hogsucker with a Lamprey attached

Speckled Darter

On April 13 we returned to release juvenile Conasauga logperch that had been hatched at CFI and reared either at their facilities or at TNACI.  We split up into two groups to cover almost 7 miles of river and release around 200 fish!

Releasing captive-bred fish into the wild is much more complicated than just dumping a bag full of fish into a river.  It takes scientific study and planning. During the previous two trips on the Conasauga, we took GPS coordinates of riffles so that we could designate release sites.  We also had four groups of juveniles (distinguished by the color and placement of their fluorescent elastomer tags).  Individuals from each group were designated to a release site.

Tagged juvenile Conasauga Logperch.

The water in which the fish were transported was a bit warmer than the river water, so the first step prior to release was to get the fish acclimated to the water temperature of their new home.  To begin the acclimation process, we placed the closed bags directly in the river.    

Pat from CFI acclimating fish.

After a little time getting used to the temperature, some water from the Conasauga River was placed directly into the bag to continue the acclimation process.  With our plans in hand and the fish acclimated, we loaded the bags into our boats and set off down the river to release these young fish into their new environment.

  

One of the release sites.

Evan getting ready to release Conasauga Logperch.

After being released, some individuals did not swim away immediately, giving us one more chance to photograph them before we left. 

We will be back on the Conasaua River soon to release the rest of this year's juveniles.  We will then continue monitoring the population of wild Conasauga Logperch, and we hope to recapture some of these individuals in the future. 

Field Notes: Week 1 on the Conasauga River

One of TNACI’s conservation projects is propagation and augmentation of Conasauga Logperch (Percina jenkinsi).   We, along with Conservation Fisheries, Incorporated (CFI), have been working with this endangered fish for the last couple of years.  One aspect of this project is studying the genetics of the Conasauga Logperch.  We want to make sure that we are maintaining the naturally high genetic diversity of the population when we reintroduce captive bred logperch into the Conasauga River.  In order for CFI to get broodstock to hatch juveniles, and for us to get fin clips for genetic sequencing, each year we work on the river to catch the fish.  They are usually found in riffles and fast moving water, so in the past we have snorkeled at bridges along the river, working in nearby habitat that looks favorable for Conasauga Logperch.  This year, we decided to try something different.  To cover more habitat in less time, we took boats in various shapes and forms down the river, stopping in the riffles to look for fish.  On April 5th, Pat and Crystal from CFI joined us in their canoe, Ashford and Evan took kayaks, while Anna and Dave took paddle boards.

It was a great day to be on the water.  We were in for a treat as the buffalo were running upstream to spawn.  Many of them had scars or lampreys attached.  We saw tens of thousands of these fish!

School of buffalo

Catching logperch can be quite challenging as they're pretty smart.  The best way to catch them is to snorkel until a fish is spotted, then herd it into a small dip net. These fish tend to be found in fast moving water over coarse substrate like cobble and gravel.  This can make the task of catching the logperch challenging. Many times the fish would begin to swim upstream, and they are much faster at it than we are.  

Herding a Conasauga Logperch

However, we were able to catch seven of these imperiled fish.

Crystal from CFI after catching a Conasauga Logperch

Percina jenkinsi

We weren’t keeping any of the fish this trip. Once we caught a Conasauga Logperch we took its photograph and a small piece of the anal fin for genetic testing. It was then released back into the river.

We will be back out there on April 12^th and 13^th, looking for more of these very special fish and to release juveniles.