Atlantic Sturgeon Tagging in the Pamunkey River Military Installations in the Lower Chesapeake Bay

U.S. Navy Marine Species Monitoring Program

This is a work product for the purpose of technical review. All data and information in this presentation is preliminary and should not be cited or reproduced without first contacting the presenter. All field work is conducted under appropriate permits under ESA/MMPA.

Please visit the US Navy Marine Species Monitoring Program web portal for additional information on this project – www.navymarinespeciesmonitoring.us

US Navy Marine Species Monitoring Program – Atlantic Technical Review Meeting Virginia Beach, VA 11-12 April 2017 Tracking the Endangered Atlantic Sturgeon

Carter Watterson1, Chris Hager2, and Jason Kahn3 1U. S. Dept. of the Navy, 2Chesapeake Scientific, 3National Marine Fisheries Service Collaborators

Christian Hager, Ph.D. Owner and Chief Researcher Chesapeake Scientific, LLC Williamsburg, Virginia [email protected]

Jason Kahn Fisheries Biologist National Marine Fisheries Service Office of Protected Resources Silver Spring, Maryland [email protected] Navy Acoustic Receiver Array in the Lower Chesapeake Bay Military Installations in the Lower Chesapeake Bay Navy Receiver Array in the Lower Chesapeake Bay

Vemco® VR2W Receiver Researchers and Agencies Tagging Sturgeon

Atlantic Sturgeon with Active Transmitters

February 2013 1,243 December 2016 1,831

Gayle Zydlewski, University of Maine Micah Kieffer, U.S. Geological Survey Tom Savoy, Connecticut Dept. of Energy and Environmental Protection Amanda Higgs, New York Sate Dept. of Environmental Conservation Kristine Edwards, New York State Thruway Authority Keith Dunton, Monmouth University Dewayne Fox & Matt Breece, Delaware State University Ian Park & Matt Fisher, Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife Hal Brundage, Environmental Research and Consulting Chuck Stence, Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources Chris Hager, Chesapeake Scientific Jason Kahn, National Marine Fisheries Service Matt Balazik & Anne Wright, Virginia Commonwealth University Matt Fisher, Pat McGrath, & Eric Hilton, Virginia Institute of Marine Science Mike Loeffler & Chip Collier, North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries Jared Flowers & Joe Hightower, North Carolina State University Bill Post, South Carolina Dept. of Natural Resources Doug Peterson, University of Georgia Species Detected in the Lower Chesapeake Bay

Number of Fish Number of Species Navy Chesapeake Bay Receiver Array Detected Detections American shad 3 60 Atlantic sturgeon 1,002 1,742,251 • Dec 2012 through Dec 2016 Black drum 6 12765 Black sea bass 11 2155 • 2,731,971 detections Blue catfish 31 749,595 • 1,825 individual fish and turtles Blueback herring* 45 68,183 Cobia 1 94 Finfish • 28 different species Speckled trout 1 67 Spotted seatrout 1 59 * Navy-funded research Striped bass 102 41,231 Tarpon 1 21 Winter flounder 7 107 Atlantic stingray 1 3 Blacktip shark 18 2154 Bull shark 4 41 Cownose ray 46 6,900 Finetooth shark 1 260 Roughtail stingray 1 3 Sand tiger shark 198 26,346 Sandbar shark 23 1,650 Spinner shark 1 27 Sharks & Rays Spiny dogfish 4 354 Tiger shark 1 5 White shark 15 326 Winter skate 2 400 Green turtle* 4 934 Kemp's ridley turtle* 25 21,156 Loggerhead turtle* 21 7,165 Turtles Navy Receiver Array in the Lower Chesapeake Bay Regional Arrays in the Lower Chesapeake Bay Nearshore Atlantic Ocean

250 45,000

2013 2014 2015 2016

200 36,000

150 27,000

100 18,000

50 9,000 Numberof Detections

Number of Ind. Fish and Days/Month 0 0 Jul 2013 Jul 2015 Jul 2014 Jul 2016 Jan 2013 Jan 2015 Jan 2014 Jan 2016 Sep 2013 Sep 2015 Sep 2014 Mar 2013 Sep 2016 Mar 2015 Nov 2013 Mar 2014 Nov 2015 Mar 2016 Nov 2014 Nov 2016 May 2013 May 2015 May 2014 May 2016 Date

# of Days/Month # of Fish Detected # of Detections Regional Arrays in the Lower Chesapeake Bay Lower Chesapeake Bay

250 45,000

2013 2014 2015 2016

200 36,000

150 27,000

100 18,000

50 9,000 Numberof Detections Number of Ind. Fish and Days/Month 0 0 Jul 2013 Jul 2015 Jul 2014 Jul 2016 Jan 2013 Jan 2015 Jan 2014 Jan 2016 Sep 2013 Sep 2015 Sep 2014 Mar 2013 Sep 2016 Mar 2015 Nov 2013 Mar 2014 Nov 2015 Mar 2016 Nov 2014 Nov 2016 May 2013 May 2015 May 2014 May 2016 Date

# of Days/Month # of Fish Detected # of Detections Regional Arrays in the Lower Chesapeake Bay Mouth of the James River

250 45,000

2013 2014 2015 2016

200 36,000

150 27,000

100 18,000

# of Days/Month # of Fish Detected # of Detections Regional Arrays in the Lower Chesapeake Bay York and Pamunkey Rivers

250 200,000 2013 2014 2015 2016

200 160,000

150 120,000

100 80,000 Numberof Detections 50 40,000 Number of Ind. Fish and Days/Month 0 0 Jul 2013 Jul 2015 Jul 2014 Jul 2016 Jan 2013 Jan 2015 Jan 2014 Jan 2016 Sep 2013 Sep 2015 Sep 2014 Mar 2013 Sep 2016 Mar 2015 Nov 2013 Mar 2014 Nov 2015 Mar 2016 Nov 2014 Nov 2016 May 2013 May 2015 May 2014 May 2016 Date

# of Days/Month # of Fish Detected # of Detections Acoustic Receiver Array in the Mid-Atlantic Region BOEM/Navy Receiver Array in the Mid-Atlantic Species Detected in the Mid-Atlantic Receiver Array

Number of Number of Species Fish Detected Detections Atlantic bluefin tuna 2 12 Atlantic cod 1 1

Atlantic sturgeon 627 59,724 Black drum 2 7

Finfish Black sea bass 2 5 Common snook 1 2 Striped bass 131 26,322 Tarpon 1 32 Atlantic stingray 1 3 Blacktip shark 13 198 Bull shark 1 4

Cownose ray 11 55 Dusky shark 2 49 Sand tiger shark 55 446 Sandbar shark 1 53 Sharks & Rays Spiny dogfish 1 1 Tiger shark 3 99 White shark 16 335 Loggerhead turtle* 1 2 * Navy-funded research Sturgeon Detected in January and February 2016

30 8 63 11 76 48 56 57 58 4 6 9 49 3 5 16 11 2 8 6

6 5 13 3 7 5 Nearshore Atlantic Ocean

250 45,000

2013 2014 2015 2016

200 36,000

150 27,000

100 18,000

50 9,000 Numberof Detections

# of Days/Month # of Fish Detected # of Detections Mid-Atlantic Acoustic Telemetry Array

250 45,000

2016 200 36,000

150 27,000

100 18,000 Numberof Detections 50 9,000 Number of Ind. FIshand Days/Month 0 0 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Month

# of Fish Detected # of Days/Month # of Detections Atlantic Sturgeon Tagging in the Pamunkey River Military Installations in the Lower Chesapeake Bay

Sturgeon Tagging Location Sampling Methods and Environmental Parameters

• 9- to 14-inch stretch mesh gillnets • Spring fed system, temperatures between 66°F – 80°F • Depths up to 6.7 m (22 ft) • DO always above 5 ppm • Daylight sampling only • Bottom of soft mud and pebbles

Photo Credits: Sarah Rider Atlantic Sturgeon Tagging in the Pamunkey River

• Surgically implant acoustic transmitters

• Tag fish with T-tags and PIT tags

• Removed 1 cm2 fin clip for genetic analysis

• Analyzed nuclear DNA

Photo Credits: Sarah Rider St. Lawrence R. (30) General Collection Localities (Sample Sizes)

St. John R. (31)

Kennebec R. (52)

Hudson R. (53)

Delaware R. (118)

Pamunkey R. (136) James River (61)

Albemarle Sound (42)

Edisto R. (47)

Savannah R. (34) Ogeechee R. (25) Altamaha R. (49) Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus) Genetic Comparison of Spawning Populations 2013-2016 Sampling Period Results

• Sampling occurred from July to October of 2013-2016

• 266 sturgeon were captured

• 88 sturgeon were recaptures

• 194 sturgeon were tagged using PIT tags and t-bar tags  109 males  24 females  61 unknown

• 61 sturgeon were implanted with acoustic transmitters Photo Credit: Ramsey Noble Pamunkey River Population Estimates

Annual Spawning Population Estimates 2013: 75 individuals (95% CI: 17-168) 2014: 157 individuals (95% CI: 107-207) 2015: 184 individuals (95% CI: 147-222) 2016: 239 individuals (95% CI: 86-392)

Total Population Estimate 330 individuals (95% CI: 299-368)

at the conclusion of the 2016 spawning season following four years of mark-recapture research

Photo Credit: Brian Bloodworth September 2014 October 2014 November 2014 December 2014 January 2015 February 2015 March 2015 April 2015 May 2015 June 2015 July 2015 August 2015 September 2015 October 2015 November 2015 December 2015 Summary Navy Receiver Array in the Lower Chesapeake Bay

The data collected from the research will allow the Navy to:

• Identify areas of potential overlap between sturgeon presence and proposed Navy activities within the Chesapeake Bay.

• Better address how to handle potential impacts without compromising the mission:

 Avoid or Minimize impacts – alter timeframe or location of activities to avoid or reduce level of interaction  Mitigate impacts – develop appropriate mitigations to the level of perceived impacts when potential impacts are unavoidable

Questions?