Capture and Brief Invasive Procedures Using Electronarcosis Does Not Appear to Affect Postrelease Habits in Male Atlantic Sturgeon During the Spawning Season

Abstract

With advances in technology and demand for life history information, researchers are increasingly conducting invasive procedures on fish that require an anesthetic. This study examined the effectiveness of electronarcosis as a field anesthetic on Atlantic Sturgeon Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus during the spawning season in the James River, Virginia. Concerns about sampling Atlantic Sturgeon during spawning runs prompted our examining whether movements after capture, narcosis, and tagging were noticeably modified. An electronarcosis system, which consisted of a power supply, fiberglass tank, and hardware cloth, were set up both on land and on a sampling boat. During the spawning season Atlantic Sturgeon were caught and implanted with Vemco V16 telemetry tags using electronarcosis as an anesthetic. Anesthesia induction, surgery, and recovery averaged 5 min. Telemetry data from the tagging year was compared with returning fish tagged in previous years. This showed movements during the spawning season and spawning exit dates were similar between the two groups, suggesting that electronarcosis was effective and time-efficient for conducting invasive procedures. Capturing and implanting transmitters in Atlantic Sturgeon during spawning runs does not appear to modify spawning movements. Managers may benefit from targeting adult Atlantic Sturgeon and other iteroparous anadromous fishes in rivers during spawning periods, which is typically very efficient due to high densities of fish during that period.

Received February 21, 2014; accepted December 31, 2014

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I thank Briana Langford, Greg Garman, Stephen McIninch, Thomas Huff, Anne Wright, Leonard Smock, Michael Fine, Casey Seelig, and Peter Sturke (Virginia Commonwealth University), Albert Spells, Cyrus Brame, Michael Odom, and Ed Darlington (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service), Chuck Frederickson and Jameson Brunkow (James River Association), Kevin Reine and Douglas Clarke (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers), Boyd Kynard (University of Massachusetts, Amherst), Jason Kahn and Malcolm Mohead (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association), Bob Greenlee (Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries) and Carter Watterson (U.S. Department of the Navy) for assistance with this project. Martin Balazik and Thiwaporn Balazik spent countless hours assisting with gill-net sampling and surgical procedures. The work was greatly improved by four anonymous reviewers. This work was completed following VCU IACUC AD20127 protocols and Nation Marine Fisheries Service Endanger Species Permit 16547-1. This research was partially funded by the PADI Foundation (7831) and NOAA (NA13NMF4720037). This is VCU Rice Rivers Center contribution 50.