The Brookings Wildlife Federation will host South Dakota State University student Logan Zebro at its April 4 noon infolunch at the Brookings County Outdoor Adventure Center, 2810 22nd Ave. S. A buffet pizza lunch will be available for a free-will donation.
Zebro will bring attendees up to date on current paddlefish studies and management issues of this unusual species. His Ph.D. research at SDSU focuses on habitat use, movements, survival, and impact of water and habitat factors linked to dam operations on paddlefish.
Paddlefish range throughout the Mississippi River Basin, which includes the Missouri River. The fish is called a “living fossil” because the species has the primitive features of fishes that lived during the Cretaceous Period, when dinosaurs roamed Earth.
Paddlefish are distinguished by a paddle-shaped snout that can be one-third the fishs length. The paddle has remarkable properties of sense, strength, and hydrodynamics. It has been called an antennae because it can detect three kinds of signals: light, vibrations and electromagnetism.
Paddlefish migrate long distances, so the changes in the river structure and ecology have hurt their populations. However, all states are working to conserve the species, which can be reared in captivity in South Dakota, it’s at the McNenny Fish Hatchery.
Paddlefish are filter feeders, primarily consuming plankton by swimming with an open mouth to filter water. Some individuals reach lengths of over 7 feet and weights of nearly 200 pounds.
Paddlefish are harvested commercially for meat and caviar, and the species is popular with sport fisherman who catch paddlefish by bowfishing and snagging. In South Dakota, catch is regulated by license sales for fishing between Gavins Point Dam and the Big Sioux River in October, and in Lake Francis Case in May.
Studies are being conducted in South Dakota to protect the species. SDSU faculty and students, the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Department, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, funded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, have been studying this species for years.
The goals of current studies include:
- Survival rates of stocked and naturally occurring paddlefish
- The impact of dam entrainment (passing through dam turbines) on young fish
- Trends in paddlefish snagging and bowfishing harvest rates
- Paddlefish sampling methods
The BWF is affiliated with the South Dakota Wildlife Federation and the National Wildlife Federation.
The national organization was established in 1936 and is a large, influential conservation organization today. April 5-9 is National Wildlife Week, an annual celebration dedicated to raising public awareness about wildlife and conservation of natural habitats and the animals that depend on them.
The BWF is in its 45th year of supplying conservation information and activities to the Brookings community. For more information, contact BWF President Bob Kurtz at 605-695-1361.
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