AUTHORS: Andrew Peters, US Fish and Wildlife Service; Katherine Zipfel, West Virginia Division of Natural Resources; Tyler Gross, US Fish and Wildlife Service
ABSTRACT: Invasive bigheaded carp (Silver Carp Hypophthalmichthys molitrix and Bighead Carp H. nobilis) are a well-known and established aquatic invasive species within the Mississippi River Drainage. As their range continues to expand, state, federal, and university managers establish new projects aimed to better monitor and evaluate these invasive species. However, many low-density, or “presence front”, locations lack valuable fish movement and habitat utilization data. Within the Ohio River, the presence front ranges from the Meldahl Lock and Dam facility (RM 436.2) at Foster, KY to the Belleville Lock and Dam facility (RM 203.9) at Reedsville, OH. We will look to capture invasive bigheaded carp (n=8) in the Robert C. Byrd Pool and tag them with Vemco V16-6x-A69-1604 coded transmitters. Vemco acoustic receivers (VR2Tx and Nex Trak R1) will be deployed strategically in mainstem and tributary locations to monitor movements and habitat utilization within the upper reaches of the Ohio River presence front. This movement data will then be correlated with temperature and flow data to increase our knowledge and understanding of temporal utilization, which could result in more effective future removal efforts. This data will be a part of a larger telemetry project that exists within the Ohio River that we plan to utilize for comparing movement patterns within a river system.
