Lower Missouri River and Yellowstone River Pallid Sturgeon Study, 1996 Report

Liebelt, James

A total of 10 pallid sturgeon ranging in weight from 12.7 to 26.3 kg were captured by drift netting and SCUBA in the Missouri River during 1996. ... Seven were recaptures from previous years and three were "new" fish. None of the three "new" fish were suspected pallid x shovelnose hybrids based on character index measurements. Habitat measurements were taken at all pallid sturgeon capture sites. Shovelnose sturgeon were the most abundant species captured by drift netting in the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers with a total of 422 caught. An additional 358 were caught with stationary gill and trammel nets primarily in section 1. Only four were netted in the Milk River. ... A total of 51 shovelnose sturgeon recaptures from previous years tagging were recovered. Twenty-nine of 31 originally tagged in the Fort Peck tailwater/dredge cut complex were again recovered in this area and the majority of recaptures were recovered within 8.0 km of the original capture site. Surface and bottom larval fish sampling in the Milk, Missouri and Yellowstone rivers collected three larval sturgeon in the Yellowstone River but none in the Milk or Missouri rivers. Eleven and two larval paddlefish were collected in the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers, respectively, and none were found in Milk River sample. Each seining captured a total of 25 species of fish in the Milk, Missouri and Yellowstoe rivers. The Milk River had the greatest diversity of species with 19, including blue sucker. This was the only section where blue sucker were captured. Flathead chubs were the most abundant species captured and comprised 31.7 percent of the total number of fish seined in all sections. The most fish captured were in section 1 with a total of 516 fish; approximately 61 percent were longnose and white sucker. A trawl was used to sample deep,main channel habitat in the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers. Seven species of fish were collected with sicklefin chub and sturgeon chub the most common.