Survival of angled saugers in the lower Tennessee River

North American Journal of Fisheries Management
By:  and 

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Abstract

An intense winter fishery for sauger Sander canadensis exists in the lower Tennessee River, and the objective of this study was to estimate the survival of angled saugers. In February 2008 and January–March 2009, 81 angled saugers (72 live plus 9 euthanized) were affixed with ultrasonic tags. The movements (or lack thereof) by saugers released alive were compared with those of euthanized fish to assess survival. Sixty-eight percent of the tagged saugers that were released alive exhibited maximum daily movements exceeding the greatest movement of any euthanized fish (0.5 km/d), and those fish were subsequently classified as survivors. The upstream movements of several euthanized fish indicated that their carcasses were ingested by piscivorous scavengers. In logistic models, the probability of mortality was significantly and inversely related to total length but not to capture depth, water temperature, handling time, or ascent rate. In 2 × 2 contingency tables, the fate of released saugers was not found to be associated with either the presence or absence of bleeding from the hooking wound or whether or not the fish displayed gastric distension. Most released fish survived despite the fact that gastric distension was observed in 72% of the angled saugers.

Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Survival of angled saugers in the lower Tennessee River
Series title North American Journal of Fisheries Management
DOI 10.1080/02755947.2011.598395
Volume 31
Issue 3
Year Published 2011
Language English
Publisher Taylor & Francis
Contributing office(s) Coop Res Unit Atlanta
Description 7 p.
First page 567
Last page 573
Other Geospatial Tennessee River
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