The Long-term Illinois River Fish Population Monitoring Program F-lOl-R Final Report Todd M. Koel and Richard E. Sparks Illinois Natural History Survey LTRMP Havana Field Station 704 North Schrader Avenue Havana, Illinois 62644-1055 November 1999 Center for Aquatic Ecology Technical Report 99/15 The Long-term Illinois River Fish Population Monitoring Program F-101-R Final Report Todd M. Koel and Richard E. Sparks Illinois Natural History Survey LTRMP Havana Field Station 704 North Schrader Avenue Havana, Illinois 62644-1055 November 1999 Dr. Todd M. Kbalr^rincipal Investigator 6r. Richard E. Sparks, C9^lnvestigator Center for Aquatic Ecology Center for Aquatic Ecology Illinois Natural History Survey Illinois Natural History Survey Dr. Daniel Soluk, Director Center for Aquatic Ecology Illinois Natural History Survey The Long-term Illinois River Fish Population Monitoring Program F-101-R Segments 6-10 Final Report to be submitted to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service by Todd M. Koel and Richard E. Sparks Illinois Natural History Survey LTRMP Havana Field Station 704 North Schrader Avenue Havana, Illinois 62644-1055 November 1999 DISCLAIMER The findings, conclusions, and views expressed herein are those of the researchers and should not be considered as the official position of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service or the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF SUPPORT The Long-term Illinois River Fish Population Monitoring Program (F-101-R) is supported by the Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Act (P.L. 81-681, Dingell- Johnson/Wallop-Breaux). EXECUTIVE SUMMARY During late August and September each year 1994-1998, we sampled 26 sites on the Illinois River WatenA/ay and one site on Reach 26 of the Mississippi River by electrofishing to monitor fish communities. From 1994-1998, we collected a total of 25,921 fish representing 62 species (plus five hybrids) from fourteen families during 125.70 hours of sampling at 26 sites on the Illinois Watenway and a single site on the Mississippi River. Of these fishes, 25,278 individuals were collected from the Illinois Waterway sites, and 643 were collected from Brickhouse Slough of the Mississippi River. The year with the greatest overall catch of fishes was 1995 (7941 individuals, CPUEn = 325 fish per hour) and the year with the lowest overall catch of fishes was 1994 (3421 individuals, CPUEn = 131 fish per hour). For all stations combined, the greatest number of species were collected in 1995 (48 species plus 3 hybrids) and the least were in 1997 (38 species plus 4 hybrids). The number of species collected from upper waterway reaches ranged from 12 for Starved Rock in 1996 to 24 for Marseilles in 1995. The number of species collected from middle river reaches ranged from 23 for La Grange Reach in 1997 to 34 for Peoria Reach in 1996. The number of species collected from the lower river (Alton Reach) ranged from 18 in 1994 to 25 in 1995. The Peoria Reach consistently had highest species richness during all years (1 994-1 998) of sampling for this project. TABLE OF CONTENTS Title and Signature Page i DISCLAIMER ii ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF SUPPORT ii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF TABLES vi LIST OF FIGURES x INDEX TO JOB ACCOMPLISHMENTS xi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xii INTRODUCTION 1 STUDY AREA 1 MATERIALS AND METHODS 2 A. Criteria for Sampling 9 B. Data Analysis 10 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 11 A. Project F-101-R Field Sampling, 1994-1998 11 B. Electrofishing Stations 12 1994 12 1995 12 1996 13 1997 13 1998 14 C. Catch Rates in Numbers of Individuals Collected per Hour 14 Numbers of Fish Collected 14 Rankings by Relative Abundance 25 CPUEn of Five Most Numerically Abundant Species 26 D. Catch Rates in Weights (pounds) Collected per Hour 32 E. Details of 1998 Sampling 44 CONCLUSIONS 44 LITERATURE CITED 48 APPENDIX A 50 APPENDIX B 52 APPENDIX C 53 APPENDIX D 54 APPENDIX E 55 APPENDIX F 56 APPENDIX G 57 LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Station information and characteristics during sampling in 1994 4 Table 2. Station information and characteristics during sampling in 1995 5 Table 3. Station information and characteristics during sampling in 1996 6 Table 4. Station information and characteristics during sampling in 1997 7 Table 5. Station information and characteristics during sampling in 1998 8 Table 6. Numbers of individuals of each fish species collected per hour of electrofishing on Reach 26 of the Mississippi River (Brickhouse Slough) and on six reaches of the Illinois River Waterway in 1 994 15 Table 7. Species ranked by relative abundance in number of fish collected per hour for 1 994 16 Table 8. Numbers of individuals of each fish species collected per hour of electrofishing on Reach 26 of the Mississippi River (Brickhouse Slough) and on six reaches of the Illinois River Waterway in 1995 17 Table 9. Species ranked by relative abundance in number offish collected per hour for 1995 18 Table 10. Numbers of individuals of each fish species collected per hour of electrofishing on Reach 26 of the Mississippi River (Brickhouse Slough) and on six reaches of the Illinois River Waterway in 1996 19 Table 1 1 . Species ranked by relative abundance in number of fish collected per hour for 1 996 20 Table 12. Numbers of individuals of each fish species collected per hour of electrofishing on Reach 26 of the Mississippi River (Brickhouse Slough) and on six reaches of the Illinois River Waterway in 1 997 21 Table 13. Species ranked by relative abundance in number of fish collected per hour for 1 997 , 22 Table 14. Numbers of individuals of each fish species collected per hour of electrofishing on Reach 26 of the Mississippi River (Brickhouse Slough) and on six reaches of the Illinois River WatenA/ay in 1998 23 Table 15. Species ranked by relative abundance in number of fish collected per hour for 1 998 24 Table 16. Pounds of each fish species collected per hour of electrofishing on Reach 26 of the Mississippi River (Brickhouse Slough) and on six reaches of the Illinois River Waterway in 1 994 33 Table 17. Species ranked by relative abundance in pounds offish collected per hour for 1 994 34 Table 18. Pounds of each fish species collected per hour of electrofishing on Reach 26 of the Mississippi River (Brickhouse Slough) and on six reaches of the Illinois River WatenA/ay in 1 995 35 Table 19. Species ranked by relative abundance in pounds offish collected per hour for 1 995 36 Table 20. Pounds of each fish species collected per hour of electrofishing on Reach 26 of the Mississippi River (Brickhouse Slough) and on six reaches of the Illinois River WatenA/ay in 1 996 37 Table 21. Species ranked by relative abundance in pounds offish collected per hour for 1 996 38 Table 22. Pounds of each fish species collected per hour of electrofishing on Reach 26 of the Mississippi River (Brickhouse Slough) and on six reaches of the Illinois River Waterway in 1 997 39 Table 23. Species ranked by relative abundance in pounds offish collected per hour for 1 997 40 Table 24. Pounds of each fish species collected per hour of electrofishing on Reach 26 of the Mississippi River (Brickhouse Slough) and on six reaches of the Illinois River Waterway in 1 998 41 Table 25. Species ranked by relative abundance in pounds offish collected per hour for 1998 42 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 . Three segments of the Illinois River sampled by electrofishing to monitor fish communities in 1997 3 Figure 2. Catch per hour of gizzard shad from 1 994 through 1 998 in the lower, middle, and upper Illinois River waterway 27 Figures. Catch per hour of common carp from 1994 through 1998 in the lower, middle, and upper Illinois River waterway 28 Figure 4. Catch per hour of emerald shiner from 1 994 through 1 998 in the lower, middle, and upper Illinois River watenA/ay 29 Figure 5. Catch per hour of bluegill from 1994 through 1998 in the lower, middle, and upper Illinois River watenway 30 Figure 6. Catch per hour of freshwater drum from 1 994 through 1 998 in the lower, middle, and upper Illinois River waterway 31 INDEX TO JOB ACCOMPLISHMENTS Job V Prepare electrofishing equipment and train staff 11 Job 2 Sample by electrofishing at 27 sites along the Illinois River Waterway and Reach 26 of the Mississippi River 11 Job 3 Update computer database Job 4 Analyze data 11 11 Job 5 Presentation of results 12 ^Job numbers and titles refer to the F-101-R annual work plans ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Project F-101-R is supported by the Federal Aid to Sportfish Restoration Act (P.L. 81-681, Dingell-Johnson/Wallop-Breaux), with funds administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Illinois Departnnent of Natural Resources (IDNR). Mr. Larry Dunham (IDNR); Mr. Bill Bertrand (IDNR); Mr. Michael Sweet (IDNR); Dr. David Thomas, Chief of the Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS); Dr. Edward Armbrust, Acting Chief (INHS); and Dr. David Philipp, former Director of the Center for Aquatic Ecology (INHS); provided administrative support. Ms. Cammy Smith of the Long Term Resource Monitoring Program Field Station at Havana provided secretarial support and data entry and verification. Mr. Thad Cook, Mr. Kip Stevenson, and Mr. Scott Whitney assisted with the field work. Mr. K. Douglas Blodgett was Co-Investigator of this project until 1998. Mr. Thomas Lerczak was Project Manager until 1995. This survey was originally conceived and initiated in 1957 by the late Dr. William C. Starrett. INTRODUCTION The goals of the Long-term Illinois River Fish Population Monitoring Program include: 1) determination of spatial and temporal trends in fish populations of the Illinois River; 2) Develop a long-term fisheries database useful for evaluating resource management strategies; and 3) provide information required to manage the fishery of the Illinois River. This report presents a summary of data collected 1994- 1998 during segments 6-10 of federal aid project F-101-R, The Long-term Illinois River Fish Population Monitoring Program. Previous summaries of the long-term data set, begun in 1957, were given by Sparks and Starrett (1975), Sparks (1977), Sparks and Lerczak (1993), Lerczak and Sparks (1994), and Lerczak et al. (1994). The annual reports for project F-101-R have continuously built on previously collected data. The format used in this report is patterned after previous annual reports of this project (Lerczak et al. 1993, 1994, 1995, and 1996 and Koel et al. 1997 and 1998) to allow for easy comparisons of data among years. The objective of this report is to provide a summary document of Illinois River fish population data collected 1994-1998 during federal aid project F-101-R. STUDY AREA Twenty-six fish sampling sites were at fixed locations along the Illinois Waterway as defined by Sparks and Starrett (1975:347) and Lerczak et al. (1994:9) (Table 1). Twenty-four of the sites were along the Illinois River, with two additional sites on the lower Des Plaines River, which along with the Illinois River is part of the Illinois Waterway. One additional site was on the Mississippi River (Figure 1). Seventeen of the sites were in side channels; the rest of the sites were in other habitats, including the main channel border, or in a combination of habitat types (see Lerczak et al. 1994:9). By calculating the average river mile of each fish sampling site for the total period of record (1957-present), the sites were "renamed" in 1998 to reflect river mile (Figure 1). For this and all subsequent reports, we will refer to sites by these approximate average river miles (site mile. Tables 1-5) for use in all figures and tables. In text we will refer to sites by average river mile as well as by common site descriptions (e.g., Brickhouse Slough, Mortland Island, etc.). MATERIALS AND METHODS Fish populations were sampled by electrofishing from a 16-ft (5-m) aluminum boat using a Homelite 3000-watt, three-phase AC electric generator. Boat configuration includes three poles extended from the bow with metal electrodes, connecting to the electric generator, extended from the ends of the poles to approximately 20 inches (0.5 m) below the water line. The same generator and electrode configuration have been used since 1957. Prior to fish sampling, water quality and flow measurements (e.g., dissolved Des Plaines River. Upper Waterway Lake Michigan Kankakee River e River \ River Mile Site Name 2798 Treats Island 277 3 Du Page River 2506 Waupecan Island 2496 Johnson Island 248 0 Ballards Island 241.5 Bulls Island Bend 2408 Bulls Island 215,3 Clark Island 207 6 Hennepin 203 3 Upper Twin Sister 2028 Lower Twin Sister 193.8 Henry Island 180.6 Chlllicothe 170.3 Lambie's Boat Harbor 163.3 Lower Peoria Lake 155.1 Pekin 148.0 Turkey Island 113.0 Upper Bath Chute 107.0 Lower Bath Chute 95.1 Sugar Creek Island 86.5 Grape-Bar Islands 58.3 Big Blue Island 300 Crater-Willow Islands 268 Hurricane Island 24.7 Dark Chute 19.0 Mortland Island 00 Bnckhouse Slough Mississippi, River Figure 1 . Three segments of the Illinois River Waterway sampled by electrofishing to monitor fish communities during August and September, 1994-1998. 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