SAVING THE MADTOM
CATFISH
Gravel Paves the Road to Recovery
Fish Tales:
Good News About Native Fish
Feature News Release No. 3
March,
2000
Contact: Karen Miranda Gleason (303) 236-7905
Cats can be finicky, and so can some fish by the same name. Take the
Kansas catfish, for example, known as the Neosho Madtom, a.k.a. Noturus
placidus. These tiny toms (a big one might reach 2 inches) will only live in
gravel bars and riffles; they love to burrow between the sand and pebbles during
the day and roam like their feline namesake at night.
Found only in
about a 200-mile stretch of the Neosho and Cottonwood Rivers, this gravel-loving
fish historically inhabited about twice its current range, extending into
Oklahoma and Missouri. Unfortunately, these cats don't have nine lives; as their
prairie-stream habitat shrunk, so did their numbers. The species was listed by
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as threatened in 1990.
Natural
cyclical water flows, which create the riffle residences, have been restricted
in the past century by 3 major dams and 13 smaller dams along the river systems
in the fish's historic range. In addition, unrestricted gravel mining below the
water removed many vital riffles, and sedimentary run-off from riverside towns
packed down existing gravel, further degrading the limited
habitat.
Thanks to conservation measures, however, and cooperative
efforts by the Service, Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers, and gravel mining operators along the river, the population
of this native prairie dweller has begun to stabilize.
The road to
recovery for this stalwart fish has been paved by efforts to conserve its
remaining habitat by limiting gravel mining to above the waterline and
restricting non-point-source run-off that carries hazardous sediment into the
river system.
"The key to recovery is maintaining or mimicking natural
water flows, as closely as possible to historical patterns, and allowing only
very limited gravel drenching," said Vernon Tabor, the Service's fish biologist
covering the state. Tabor has been a primary member of the monitoring team that
has been studying the Neosho Madtom at several sites since 1991.
An
agreement reached in 1997 by the cooperators divided the river into designated
sections, with the mining of gravel bars limited to a specific cubic-foot amount
per year -- a level of activity that fish biologists determined would be
compatible with recovering Madtom populations.
Since the agreement was
implemented, gravel miners have complied with the limits and all mining permit
requests have been granted. In fact, there are still additional mining permits
available for some reaches of the river.
In the past, the Service's
Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program worked with a gravel company and the
State of Kansas to build artificial riffles to replace those that had been mined
away. Built of crushed limestones and other small material, the replacement
riffles have proven to be suitable habitat for the Madtom. These efforts may
provide a blue-print for future riffle-building projects, according to Bill
Gill, Project Leader for the Service's Manhattan office.
As the tough
little Madtom fights for its survival as a species, perhaps it will prove that
some of these cats really do have nine lives after all.
This feature news
release is one in a series of "Fish Tales" communicating success stories about
native fish conservation in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's
Mountain-Prairie Region, which includes the States of Colorado, Kansas, Montana,
Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming. Articles and
photographs may be used and published freely, in whole or in part. These
articles are also available on the Internet at
http://www.r6.fws.gov/feature
Further information on this and other
related topics can be obtained from the USFWS Region 6 External Affairs staff at
303-236-7905.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal
agency responsible for conserving, protecting, and enhancing fish, wildlife and
plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The
Service manages the 93-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System comprised of
more than 500 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands, and other
special management areas. It also operates 66 national fish hatcheries, 64 fish
and wildlife management assistance offices and 78 ecological services field
stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered
Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant
fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps
State, Tribal, and foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also
oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of
dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state wildlife
agencies.