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Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin International • Peer-Reviewed • Open-Access Published continuously since 1876 Status, trends, and population demographics of selected sportfish species in the La Grange Reach of the Illinois River Levi E. Solomon1, Richard M. Pendleton2, Kristopher A. Maxson1, Jacob N. McQuaid3, Daniel K. Gibson-Reinemer1, Cory A. Anderson4, Rebekah L. Anderson5, Eli G. Lampo5, James T. Lamer1, and Andrew F. Casper1 1 Illinois River Biological Station, Illinois Natural History Survey, Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois, 704 North Schrader Avenue, Havana, Illinois 62644, USA 2 Division of Marine Resources, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, 21 South Putt Corners Road, New Paltz, New York 12561, USA 3 Missouri Department of Conservation, 3500 East Gans Road, Columbia, Missouri 65201, USA 4 Carterville Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office, US Fish and Wildlife Service, 9053 Route 148, Suite A, Marion, Illinois 62959, USA 5 Aquatic Nuisance Species Program, Illinois Department of Natural Resource, Silver Springs State Fish and Wildlife Area, 13608 Fox Road, Yorkville, Illinois 60560, USAPennsylvania 19103, USA Research Article Abstract Cite This Article: Solomon, L. E., R. M. Pendleton, Sportfish species, specifically, Yellow Bass Morone mis- K. A. Maxson, J. N. McQuaid, D. K. sissippiensis, White Bass Morone chrysops, Largemouth Gibson-Reinemer, C. A. Anderson, Bass Micropterus salmoides, Bluegill Lepomis macrochirus, R. L. Anderson, E. G. Lampo, Black Crappie Pomoxis nigromaculatus, and White Crappie J. T. Lamer, and A. F. Casper. 2019. P. annularis, often drive economically valuable fisheries in Status, trends, and population demo- large river systems, including the Upper Mississippi River graphics of selected sportfish species System (UMRS). Within the Illinois River, part of the UMRS, in the La Grange Reach of the Illinois River. Illinois Natural History Survey these species are routinely sampled by an ongoing, long-term Bulletin 42:2019002. fisheries monitoring program. Through this program, we investigated long-term trends, 1993 through 2017, in catch Author For Correspondence: rates and relative weights and quantified demographic rates Levi E. Solomon from 2012 through 2016. We found all six study species, with email: [email protected] the exception of Yellow Bass, to have declining catch rates, Data Accessibility Statement with this decline being most stark in larger, older fishes. Sequence data are available Population demographics for Yellow Bass, White Bass, Blue- on GenBank under accession gill, and Black Crappie suggest populations are dominated numbers KT023313-KT023498 and KT029857-KT029914. Relevant by younger individuals, with only Black Crappie regularly sequence alignment and phyloge- living to age 3 and older, which may be driving population netic tree files are available from declines. Many environmental stressors are acting on the the Illinois Data Bank (DOI: 10.13012/ Illinois River that could be contributing to the lack of older and B2IDB-9797270_V1). larger fishes, including but not limited to navigation efforts Keywords: (impoundment by lock and dams, levee construction), altered long-term data, sportfish, large river hydrology, pollution, sedimentation, lack of overwintering habitat, and introduction of invasive species. Results of this Received: March 11, 2019 study demonstrate that additional research to understand Accepted: mechanisms driving reduced abundance and stunted age October 14, 2019 structure are needed to identify effective management actions that would benefit populations of recreationally valuable Associate Editor: sportfish species. Christopher Taylor Editor in Chief: Maximilian L. Allen Copyright 2019 by the authors. Published by the Illinois Natural History Survey under the terms of the creative commons attribution license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited. ILLINOIS NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY BULLETIN 1 Introduction The Illinois River fishery faces abundant challenges and environmental stressors, many brought on by Recreational fishing has a large economic impact human activity. These stressors include, among throughout the United States, with anglers spend- other factors, navigation efforts (impoundment by ing $46.1 billion in fishing-related expenses in 2016 lock and dams, levee construction), altered hydrol- (US Department of the Interior [USDI] 2016). In the ogy, pollution, sedimentation, lack of overwinter- Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS) alone, out- ing habitat, and introduction of invasive species door recreation, including fishing, was estimated (Bellrose et al. 1983; Bhomik and Demissie 1989; by the Upper Mississippi River Basin Association Sparks et al. 1998; Chick and Pegg 2001; McClelland to produce annual revenue of $4 billion. The Illinois et al. 2012; Solomon et al. 2016; Fritts et al. 2017). River system, part of the UMRS, also generates Considering the popularity among anglers, the re- substantial revenue from fishing opportunities sulting economic impact, and these challenges and (Figure 1). According to the US Fish and Wildlife stressors, research and management regarding the Service, Division of Economics, $411.3 million was health and status of fish communities of the Illinois generated by angling in the Illinois River corridor River should be of vital importance. in 2011 (USDI 2016). The economic impact of recre- There are several important aspects pertaining to ational fishing is primarily driven by a short list of the research and management of recreationally recreationally valuable species. In the lower Illinois valuable species of any fishery, such as knowledge River (Peoria, La Grange, and Alton Reaches), those of long-term estimates of relative abundance and include both traditionally sought-after species as the size structure of fish populations (Zale et al. well as nontraditional species (Table 1). Nontra- 2012; Ickes et al. 2014; Ratcliff et al. 2014) and dy- ditional fishes, usually harvested via bowfishing, namic rate functions (age structure, growth rates, are becoming more popular (J. Stein, Illinois Nat- and mortality), commonly referred to as population ural History Survey, personal communication), and demographics (Quist and Isermann 2017). Knowl- when combined with more traditional fish species, edge of population demographics provides man- they represent an important natural and economic agers with information needed to assess recruit- resource that supports and diversifies both local ment variability and year class strength (Quist and and state economies and warrant study, conserva- Isermann 2017). Data on both relative abundance tion, and management. and population demographics is essential to un- derstanding the overall health of a fishery. As such, the US Army Corps of Engineers’ Upper Mississippi FIGURE 1 The Upper Mississippi River system, including the La Grange Reach of the Illinois River, delimited on the north end by the Peoria Lock and Dam (RM 158) and on the south end by the La Grange Lock and Dam (RM 80), each represented by a short black line. 2 ILLINOIS NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY BULLETIN 42:2019002 TABLE 1 Traditional and non-traditional fish species commonly sought by anglers on the lower Illinois River TRADITIONAL SPECIES NON-TRADITIONAL SPECIES Channel CatfishIctalurus punctatus Gar Lepisosteus spp. Flathead CatfishPylodictis olivaris Buffalo Ictiobus spp. White Bass Morone chrysops Common Carp Cyprinus carpio Largemouth Bass Micropterus salmoides Grass Carp Ctenopharyngodon idella Bluegill Lepomis macrochirus Bighead Carp Hypophthalmicthys nobilis Black Crappie Pomoxis nigromaculatus Silver Carp H. molitrix White Crappie P. annularis Sauger Sander canadensis River Restoration (UMRR) Program has identified the Mississippi River at RKM 0, and encompass- sportfishery research as part of the framework for ing the Peoria, La Grange, and Alton Reaches. The fisheries issues in the UMRS (Ickes 2018). La Grange Reach of the Illinois River is a 125 km segment of the lower Illinois River between the La Accordingly, relative abundance and population Grange Lock and Dam at RKM 129 and the Peoria demographics for recreationally viable species of- Lock and Dam at RKM 254 (Figure 1). It is charac- ten receive substantial attention, including studies terized by a wide floodplain surrounding the main conducted on many large river systems, including channel and a mosaic of side channels, fully con- the UMRS (Gutreuter et al. 1999; Pitlo and Rasmus- nected backwaters, and semi-connected backwaters sen 2004 and references therein; Kirby and Ickes (Delong 2005; McClelland et al. 2012). 2006; Smith et al. 2007; Bowler 2013; Bowler et al. 2013; Gibson-Reinemer et al. 2017a). However, the relative abundance and population demographics Data collection of fish species within dynamic and open river sys- The UMRR Program’s Long-Term Resource Moni- tems likely change over time in response to ongo- toring (LTRM) element has sampled the fish com- ing and emerging anthropogenic stressors acting munity of the La Grange Reach of the Illinois River on large rivers. Furthermore, many of the previ- annually since 1993 using stratified random sam- ously cited studies took place in areas of the UMRS pling (SRS) and fixed-site sampling (two fixed sites; vastly different from the current state of the lower Bath Chute at RKM 181.8 and Peoria Lock and Dam Illinois River, leading to a lack of recent information
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