Evaluation and Proposed Refinement of the Sampling Design for the Long Term Resource Monitoring Program's Fish Component
Abstract : Environmental monitoring programs are frequently designed to track changes in key physical, chemical, and biological features of an ecosystem. As such, these programs provide critical information for detecting changes in system state, investigating causal mechanisms of the observed changes, and making resource management decisions. Because monitoring programs require significant investments of time, money, and human resources to implement and maintain, periodic evaluations of monitoring programs are necessary to determine if the sampling design adequately addresses program goals and objectives. Periodic evaluations also permit assessment of a program's ability to provide adequate and useful information for changing management and science needs. We evaluated the Long Term Resource Monitoring Program's (LTRMP) fish sampling design by analyzing data from stratified random samples collected from 1993 to 1999 in six Trend Analysis Areas (TAAs). Specifically, we investigated whether the sampling design could provide similar information with fewer sampling gears. Our goals were to identify and quantify information provided by each gear used to monitor fish in the LTRMP, develop alternative sampling design scenarios based on our analyses and expert opinion, and engage program partners in a discussion on the relative value of each gear within the present sampling design. Community characterization (presence or absence), community structure (relative abundance within the full community), and detection of annual changes in single-species catch-per-unit-effort (Lubinski et al. 2001) are the primary information provided by the fish component. Our analyses considered differences in these measures among TAAs, gear types, sampling strata, seasonal sampling period, and fish size. Results were made available to program partners through a Web site for review and comment. Based on these analyses, program partners developed a suite of potential options for component refinement.
THE AMERICAN FISHERIES SOCIETY.
The Montana Chapter of the American Fisheries Society (MCAFS) appreciates this opportunity to offer our support for the appropriation request submitted to you for the development of the Center for Aquatic Nuisance Species (CANS) in Livingston, Montana. The American Fisheries Society (AFS), founded in 1870 is the oldest and largest professional society representing fisheries scientists. The mission of AFS is to improve the conservation and sustainability of fishery resources and aquatic ecosystems by advancing fisheries and aquatic science and promoting the development of fisheries professionals. The Montana Chapter, founded in 1967, is comprised of approximately 300 fisheries professionals representing state and federal agencies, tribal governments, universities, and the private sector.
1998 Annual Status Report: A Summary of Fish Data in Six Reaches of the Upper Mississippi River System
Abstract : The Long Term Resource Monitoring Program (LTRMP) completed 2,664 collections of fishes from stratified random and permanently fixed sampling locations in six study reaches of the Upper Mississippi River System during 1998. Collection methods included day and night electrofishing, hoop netting, fyke netting (two net sizes), gill netting, seining, and trawling in select aquatic area classes. The six LTRMP study reaches are Pools 4 (excluding Lake Pepin), 8, 13, and 26 of the Upper Mississippi River, an unimpounded reach of the Mississippi River near Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and the La Grange Pool of the Illinois River. A total of 63-75 fish species were detected in each study reach. For each of the six LTRMP study reaches, this report contains summaries of(1) sampling efforts for each combination of gear type and aquatic area class, (2) total catches of each species from each gear type, (3) mean catch-per-unit of effort statistics and standard errors for common species from each combination of aquatic area class and selected gear type, and (4) length distributions of common species from selected gear types.