Project
Establishment of a pre-reconnection baseline for Boardman River catastomid reproductive demographics
FishPass is expected to increase the availability of spawning habitat for migratory fishes in the Boardman River by allowing them access to upwards of 270 additional kilometers of river and tributary habitat in the upper Boardman River (above Union Street Dam). This increased access is predicted to benefit fisheries through increased reproduction as well as render other ecosystem benefits. Consequently, a key indicator of project success is the identification of reproductive contributions from passed individuals to upstream populations. Two native species, white sucker and longnose sucker, are the most abundant migratory fishes native to the Upper Great Lakes that occur below the Union Street dam and thus are highly desirable passage targets. We are using genetic data to describe pre-FishPass reproductive characteristics of white and longnose sucker that migrate into the lower Boardman River. The proposed work would provide baseline data of pre-reconnection reproductive patterns necessary to make reproductive assessments for the two most numerically abundant species that are expected to benefit from FishPass while generating genotyping tools that will be applicable throughout the species’ ranges.