state are closed to commercial fishing except those
designated as open. Commercial harvests are also
controlled by various gear restrictions. Most of the
commercially harvested paddlefish are taken from
Tennessee and Cumberland river reservoirs. Com-
mercial harvest is high (60 328 kg in 1992), but con-
siderably less than 197 768 kg reported in 1975.
Sport and commercial seasons are closed during a
two-month period in the spring to protect adults
during the spawning season. Concerns include
overfishing, habitat destruction and contaminants.
Several reservoirs receive maintenance stockings
annually.
Texas (no sport or commercial fisheries, classified as
endangered, status increasing)
Texas is currently utilizing an aggressive stocking
program to recover paddlefish populations in six
east-Texas streams. Early indications are that pop-
ulations are increasing in most of these streams.
Major concerns continue to be habitat destruction
and water quality.Virginia (no sport or commercial fisheries, classified
as threatened, status unknown)
Paddlefish occur in Powell and Clinch rivers but in
low numbers. Major reasons for decline include
contaminants and siltation (soil and coal fines).West Virginia (no sport or commercial fisheries, clas-
sified as species of special concern, status increas-
ing).
West Virginia began stocking juveniles into the
Ohio and Kanawha rivers in 1992. Prior to 1992, one
or two paddlefish were reported annually. Naviga-
tional dams and habitat alterations are of major
concern.Wisconsin (no sport or commercial fisheries, classi-
fied as watch-listed, status increasing)
Wisconsin is presently conducting research on pad-
dlefish populations in the Wisconsin and Mississip-
pi rivers. A reintroduction plan (including stocking
juveniles) is being considered above Prairie du Sac
Dam on the lower Wisconsin River. Habitat degra-
dation, water quality, and illegal harvest are major
concerns. difficult.Sport harvestsSport harvest occurs throughout most of the exist-
ing range for paddlefish; however, many of these
fisheries are small and dependent upon unpredict-
able river flows. Large sport fisheries, supported by
self-sustaining or augmented stocks, exist only in
the upper and central portions of the United States
(Figure 1 and Table 3). Even these traditional sport
fisheries are being challenged by increasing fishing
pressure, continued habitat degradation and occa-
sional mismanagement. Montana and North Dako-
ta. once thought to have stable populations, are be-
ginning to see effects of overfishing of adult stock
presumably because of low natural recruitment.
Slot length limits in South Dakota and Nebraska
(on a shared tailwaters fishery) protect mature pad-
dlefish, yet allow some harvest of large fish. Mis-
souri is considering annual quotas and Oklahoma
and Arkansas have reduced their daily bag limit.
Since Gengerke’s (1986) report, Alabama, Louisia-
na, Virginia, and West Virginia no longer allow
sport harvest of paddlefish.
The most important sport fisheries are located on
the Tennessee River at Kentucky Dam in Ken-
tucky; the Yellowstone River at Intake, Montana;
the Osage River at Warsaw, Missouri and the upper
Osage River above Truman Lake, Missouri; Gavins
Point Dam tailwaters on the Missouri River in Ne-
braska and South Dakota; the Missouri River at
Williston, North Dakota (above Lake Sakakawea);
and Highway Bridge 171 on the Missouri River in
Montana (above Ft. Peck Reservoir).Commercial harvestsIt is apparent that commercial harvest of paddlefish
is now less than reported by Gengerke (1986). It is
not possible to obtain accurate information for
commercial harvests from several states. Many
states do not require commercial fishermen to re-
port their catch and in some states where reporting
is mandatory, results are suspect. Additionally,
commercial fishermen routinely fish several drain-
ages in several states and quantitative assessment is