Life Sciences Commons^™

Restoring Wildlife Habitat On Rat Island: Environmental Assessment

United States Fish and Wildlife: Staff Publications

Restoration of natural ecosystem function on Rat Island promises to re-establish native seabirds and other native species, thus returning this wilderness island to a healthy natural community. This restoration cannot occur until the island is cleared of the invasive non-native rats that now dominate the living community.

Introduced non-native species are a leading cause of extinctions in island communities worldwide. Increasingly, land managers are removing introduced species to aid in the restoration of native ecosystems. Rats are responsible for 40-60% of all recorded bird and reptile extinctions worldwide. Given their widespread successful colonization on islands and the resulting impact to …

Abstracts Of Papers Presented At The 16th International Pectinid Workshop Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada May 11–18, 2007, G. Jay Parsons

VIMS Articles

VIMS Author Contributions: Scallop dredge selectivity: A review of sequential ring size increases from 1994 to 2003 in the US sea scallop fishery By: DuPaul, William D.; Rudders, David B. Pages: 1307-1308 Industry-based sea scallop dredge surveys in support of rotational area management By: Rudders, B.; DuPaul, William D. Pages: 1337-1338 Size-selectivity of the commercial northwest Atlantic sea scallop (Placopecten magellanicus) dredge By: Yochum, Noelle; DuPaul, William D. Pages: 1355-1355

Understanding Localized Movements And Habitat Associations Of Summer Flounder In Chesapeake Bay Using Passive Acoustic Arrays : Final Report, Mary C. Fabrizio, Mark J. Henderson, Jon A. Lucy

Reports

No abstract provided.

Evaluation Of Striped Bass Stocks In Virginia : Monitoring And Tagging Studies, 2004-2008 - Annual Report 1 September 2006 - 31 August 2007, Philip W. Sadler, John M. Hoenig, Robert E. Harris, Rebecca J. Wilk, Lydia M. Goins

Reports

This report presents the results of striped bass (Morone saxatilis) tagging and monitoring activities in Virginia during the period 1 September 2006 through 31 August 2007. It includes an assessment of the biological characteristics of striped bass taken from the 2007 spring spawning run, estimates of annual survival and fishing mortality based on annual spring tagging, and the preliminary results of the fall 2006 study that documents the prevalence of mycobacterial infections of striped bass in Chesapeake Bay. The information contained in this report is required by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and is used to implement a coordinated …

2006 National Survey Of Fishing, Hunting, And Wildlife-Associated Recreation

United States Fish and Wildlife: Staff Publications

The National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation reports results from interviews with U.S. residents about their fishing, hunting, and wildlife watching. This report focuses on 2006 participation and expenditures of persons 16 years of age and older.

However, in addition to 2006 estimates, we also provide trend information in the Highlights section and Appendix C of the report. The 2006 numbers reported can be compared with those in the 1991, 1996, and 2001 Survey reports because they used similar methodologies. However, 2006 estimates should not be directly compared with results from Surveys conducted earlier than 1991 because of …

Eutrophication In Farmington Bay And Its Potential Impacts On Wildlife, Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Lobster Bulletin, Fall 2007, Lobster Institute, University Of Maine

Lobster Bulletin

The Lobster Bulletin newsletter includes research updates, and information on lobsters and the lobster industry. The Lobster Institute at the University of Maine is dedicated to protecting and conserving the lobster resource, and enhancing lobstering as an industry and a way of life.

Headlines in the Fall 2007 issue include:

• Lobster Institute Honors Long-Time Volunteers at its 20^th Anniversary Celebration
• Lobster Institute Unveils New Logo
• Twenty Years of Service
• Maine DMR Announces Online Licensing Services
• Research Report: New Designs for Juvenile Sampling Trap Studied
• The Lobster Institute Celebrates Its 20^th Anniversary: 1987-2007

National Wildlife Refuge System: Friends Forward

United States Fish and Wildlife: Staff Publications

Contents:

First Friends Academy Hailed as a Success

Pass the News Around

From the Chief: Out from Behind the Desk

In the Hopper

Six Congressmen to be Honored

Thinking of Starting a Bookstore at Your Refuge?

14,000 Hours and Still Working: Ron Tillier

Focus on Kids and Cranes

On the Fire Lines at Okefenokee Refuge

Fighting Invasives With Education and Cat Traps

An Employment Dream

Grant Deadlines are Fast approaching

Frequently Asked Questions

Calendar of Friends and National Events

Study Confirms Popularity of Outdoor activities

Refuge Update Article Index, Ellen Fritts

United States Fish and Wildlife: Staff Publications

This document was developed to promote protection of Alaska’ wildlife from nonnative rodents, especially rats. If constitutes a statewide invasive rodent management plan, which is part of a multi-agency effort to minimize the impact of invasive species in Alaska. A literature search and interviews were conducted, and reviews were obtained from experts in Alaska and elsewhere. The plan summarizes resisting information relevant to Alaska and recommends a collaborative structure for undertaking strategic actions, the Alaska Rodent Action Team. It also identifies dozens of strategic actions that are needed to prevent and eradicate invasive rodents. These fall into six categories: legal …

Getting Started With The Water Harvest Program A Guide For Watermen To Make More For Their Catch By Selling Direct At Farmers’ Markets, Jimmy Hogge, Paige Hogge

Reports

No abstract provided.

Fisheries Research Report 165: Biological And Fisheries Data For Managing Deep Sea Crabs In Western Australia - Project 2001/055, Roy Melville-Smith, S M. Norton, Adrian W. Thomson

Fisheries research reports

The crystal crab fishery on the west coast of Western Australia has only been commercially fished since the late 1990s. When this project was initiated in 2001, only compulsory monthly catch and effort data were being collected. This project has successfully set up the methods and means to collect and analyse more appropriate commercial catch and effort data for the fishery. Fishers now record detailed daily catch and effort data for legal as well as undersize and berried crabs and the Department of Fisheries, WA, has a regular monitoring programme to record population size structure information.

This project has also …

Annual Report Of Lands Under Control Of The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service As Of September 30, 2007, U. S. Fish And Wildlife Service

United States Fish and Wildlife: Staff Publications

Annual Report of Lands Under Control Of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service As of September 30, 2007

Message from the Director

Key to Real Property Numbers

Map of National Fish and Wildlife Management Areas

Map of Waterfowl Productions Areas

Significant Land Acquisition Accomplishments in Fiscal Year 2007

Tables
1 Summary by Categories
2 Summary by States, Associated Governments and Possessions
2A FY 2007 Summary by States, Associated Governments and Possessions
3 National Wildlife Refuges
4 Waterfowl Production Areas
5 Coordination Areas
6 Administrative Sites
7 National Fish Hatcheries
8 Wilderness Areas in National Wildlife Refuges and National Fish Hatcheries …

Evaluating Recruitment Of American Eel, Anguilla Rostrata, To The Potomac River (Spring 2007), Hank Brooks, Wendy A. Lowery, Aimee Halvorson, James Gartland, Marcel M. Montane

Reports

Harvests of American eel along the U.S. Atlantic Coast have declined in recent years, and similar patterns have been noted in the Canadian Maritime Provinces as well as in Europe with its congener, A. anguilla (Ciccotti et al., 4 1995). Fishery independent indices of abundance have also shown a decline in American eel populations in recent years (Richkus and Whalen, 1999; Geer, 2003; Montane and Fabrizio, 2006). Possible explanations for this decline include Gulf Stream shifts, pollution, overfishing, parasites, and barriers to fish passage (Castonguay et al., 1994; Haro et al., 2000). In addition, local factors such as unfavorable wind-driven …

Managing The Recreational Catch Of Demersal Scalefish On The West Coast. Future Management Scenarios For Community Consideration, Jon Ford (Minister For Fisheries; The Kimberley, Pilbara And Gascoyne)

Fisheries management papers

This paper discusses the major issues around controlling the total recreational catch. It also considers some of the tools available to manage the catch to specific target levels. The sustainability of fish species must be a key driver. However, the impacts on the social amenity of recreational fishing must also be taken into account. Any particular tool, if used on its own and to its full extent, may be rather “blunt” in its application and its impacts unacceptable to large parts of the community. The most effective and acceptable management package will probably be a mix of tools, supported by …

Estimating Relative Juvenile Abundance Of Ecologically Important Finfish And Invertebrates In The Virginia Portion Of Chesapeake Bay (Award No. Na03nmf4570378) June 2003-May 2007, Mary C. Fabrizio, Marcel M. Montaine

Reports

The fisheries trawl survey conducted by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) is the oldest continuing trawl monitoring program (52 years) for marine and estuarine fishes in the United States. This survey provides a monthly baseline assessment of the abundance of juvenile marine and estuarine fishes and some invertebrates in the tidal and mainstem Chesapeake Bay. The survey provides crucial, real time data to various state, regional and national fisheries management agencies, including the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC), the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), the Mid-Atlantic Fisheries Management Council (MAFMC), and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). …

Final Report An Assessment Of Sea Scallop Abundance And Distribution In Selected Closed Areas: Georges Bank Area I, Nantucket Lightship And Elephant Trunk, William D. Dupaul, David Rudders

Reports

No abstract provided.

Shallow Water Fish Communities And Coastal Development Stressors In The Lynnhaven River, Donna M. Bilkovic, David Stanhope, Kory Angstadt

Reports

Coastal development pressures in the Mid-Atlantic have been attributed to significant negative impacts to aquatic ecosystems. The Lynnhaven River watershed, located in the southernmost extent of the Chesapeake Bay and encompassing Virginia Beach, is an example of a shallow-water tidal system under intense development pressure that is confronted with multiple and often conflicting coastal management issues. Rapid development in and around the City of Virginia Beach over the past few decades has led to the loss of natural buffers and habitat (e.g. oyster, wetlands and seagrasses), increased sedimentation, and degraded water quality. The Lynnhaven Ecosystem Restoration Project, led by U.S …

Estimating Relative Abundance Of Young-Of-The-Year American Eel Anguilla Rostrata In The Virginia Tributaries Of Chesapeake Bay (Spring 2006), Marcel M. Montane, Wendy A. Lowery, Hank Brooks, Aimee D. Halvorson

Reports

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) adopted the Interstate Fishery Management Plan (hereafter referred to as FMP) for the American eel in November 1999. The FMP focuses on increasing coastal states’ efforts to collect American eel data through both fishery dependent and fishery independent studies. Consequently, member jurisdictions (including Virginia) agreed to implement an annual survey for YOY American eels. The survey is intended to “…characterize trends in annual recruitment of the YOY eels over time [to produce a] qualitative appraisal of the annual recruitment of American eel to the U.S. Atlantic Coast” (ASMFC, 2000). The development of these …

Estimating Capacity And Efficiency In Fisheries With Undesirable Outputs, Rolf Fare, James E. Kirkley, John B. Walden

Reports

No abstract provided.

An Assessment Of Sea Scallop Abundance And Distribution In The Georges Bank Closed Area Ii, William D. Dupaul, David Rudders

Reports

No abstract provided.

Sampling A Littoral Fish Assemblage: Comparison Of Small-Mesh Fyke Netting And Boat Electrofishing, Carl R. Ruetz Iii, Donald G. Uzarski, Damon M. Krueger, Edward S. Rutherford

Peer-reviewed scientific publications

We compared small-mesh (4-mm) fyke netting and boat electrofishing for sampling a littoral fish assemblage in Muskegon Lake, Michigan. We hypothesized that fyke netting selects for small-bodied fishes and electrofishing selects for large-bodied fishes. Three sites were sampled during May (2004 and 2005), July (2005 only), and September (2004 and 2005). We found that the species composition of captured fish differed considerably between fyke netting and electrofishing based on nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS). Species strongly associated with fyke netting (based on NMDS and relative abundance) included the brook silverside Labidesthes sicculus, banded killifish Fundulus diaphanus, round goby Neogobius melanostomus, mimic …

The Lobster Bulletin, Summer 2007, Lobster Institute, University Of Maine

Lobster Bulletin

The Lobster Bulletin newsletter includes research updates, and information on lobsters and the lobster industry. The Lobster Institute at the University of Maine is dedicated to protecting and conserving the lobster resource, and enhancing lobstering as an industry and a way of life.

Headlines in the Summer 2007 issue include:

• Long Island Sound Lobstermen Establish Fund to Support the Lobster Institute
• Twenty Years of Service
• Lobster Institute to Benefit from a Bequest to Establish a Product Development Fund
• Alternative Lobster Bait Moves Out of the Lab and Into the Marketplace
• Research Report: Medicated Feed Trials Conducted
• The Lobster Institute Celebrates …

An Assessment Of Sea Scallop Abundance And Distribution In The Georges Bank Closed Area Ii - Preliminary Results, William D. Dupaul, David Rudders

Reports

No abstract provided.

Detection Of Panulirus Argus Virus 1 In Caribbean Spiny Lobsters, Megan M. Montgomery-Fullerton, Roland Cooper, Kathryn M. Kauffman, Jeffrey D. Shields, Robert E. Ratzlaff

Collected Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Panulirus argus Virus 1 (PaV1) is a pathogenic virus that infects Caribbean spiny lobsters P. argus in the Florida Keys. We have developed a PCR detection assay for PaV1 for the purpose of studying the natural history of the virus and for monitoring the prevalence of infection. The detection of the virus in hemolymph and other tissues is based on the PCR amplification of a 499 bp product using specific primers designed from a cloned fragment of the PaV1 genome. The sensitivity limit for the assay was 1.2 fg of purified viral DNA. The PaV1 primers did not react with …

Ecosystem Services Related To Oyster Restoration, Ld Coen, Rochelle Brumbaugh, D Bushek, R Grizzle, Mark Luckenbach, Et Al

VIMS Articles

The importance of restoring filter-feeders, such as the Eastern oyster Crassostrea virginica, to mitigate the effects of eutrophication (e.g. in Chesapeake Bay) is currently under debate. The argument that bivalve molluscs alone cannot control phytoplankton blooms and reduce hypoxia oversimplifies a more complex issue, namely that ecosystem engineering species make manifold contributions to ecosystem services. Although further discussion and research leading to a more complete understanding is required, oysters and other molluscs (e.g. mussels) in estuarine ecosystems provide services far beyond the mere top-down control of phytoplankton blooms, such as (1) seston filtration, (2) benthic–pelagic coupling, (3) creation of refugia …

Annual Progress Report - 2006 Data Collection And Analysis In Support Of Single And Multispecies Stock Assessments In Chesapeake Bay: The Chesapeake Bay Multispecies Monitoring And Assessment Program, Christopher F. Bonzek, Robert J. Latour, James Gartland

Reports

Historically, fisheries management has been based on the results of single-species stock assessment models that focus on the interplay between exploitation level and sustainability. There currently exists a suite of standard and accepted analytical frameworks (e.g., virtual population analysis (VPA), biomass dynamic production modeling, delay difference models, etc.) for assessing the stocks, projecting future stock size, evaluating recovery schedules and rebuilding strategies for overfished stocks, setting allowable catches, and estimating fishing mortality or exploitation rates. A variety of methods also exist to integrate the biological system and the fisheries resource system, thereby enabling the evaluation of alternative management strategies on …

Virginia Shellfish Aquaculture Situation And Outlook Report : Results Of The 2005-2007 Virginia Shellfish Aquaculture Crop Reporting Survey, Thomas J. Murray, Michael J. Oesterling

Reports

Continued growth of the shellfish aquaculture industry in Virginia has added significant value to the state’s seafood marketplace. Today, watermen continue to harvest both hard clams and oysters from the state’s public resources, albeit at diminished rates. At the same time, Virginia’s watermen-farmers are providing growing quantities of additional quality shellfish to consumers. Following the lead of the hard clam industry, there has been a significant transition to intensive aquaculture of native oysters in recent years. The once extensive oyster planting has disappeared primarily as a result of endemic oyster diseases and increasing wildlife predation of seed oysters. In its …

Conference Proceedings Water Access 2007: A National Symposium On Working Waterways & Waterfronts, Virginia Sea Grant

Reports

No abstract provided.

Outcomes Of The Wetline Review. The Minister For Fisheries’ Decisions In Relation To The Future Management Of The West Coast And Gascoyne Commercial “Wetline” Fisheries, Department Of Fisheries Western Australia.

Fisheries management papers

This document details my final decisions on the new management arrangements for the West Coast and Gascoyne commercial ‘wetline’ fisheries. The decisions that are set out in this document will form an important part of the holistic management package required to ensure the long-term sustainability of our demersal scalefish resources in the West Coast and Gascoyne bioregions. The new Management Plans will provide the framework within which commercial scalefish catches can be explicitly managed to sustainable levels and will promote greater commercial certainty and confidence for those operators who gain access to the fishery.

Mechanics Of Suction Generation During Feeding In Little Skates, Danielle Duquette

Senior Honors Projects

Feeding mechanisms of aquatic vertebrates has been extensively studied in the past, while that of elasmobranchs remains limited. Skates and rays are believed to have evolved from a shark ancestor, thus they represent the most derived group. All skates are dorsoventrally compressed, have a unique jaw suspension type and head skeleton and live in benthic environments. It is unknown whether these derived features of skates have altered the ancestral shark feeding mechanism. Comparing feeding mechanisms in skates and sharks may shed light on morphological transformations that have arisen after the evolutionary split of these two groups. In this study prey …