Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2020 - 55

Marking a Chesapeake Logperch with an elastomer tag.

Chesapeake Logperch showing elastomer tag.

of occupied waters in Pennsylvania and Maryland to
determine where wild fish could be removed without
damaging existing populations.
In April, PSU personnel again made the trip to Knoxville,
TN, to work with CFI staff developing techniques and protocols
for hatching and raising logperch at the PSU campus. Success
was almost immediate at both facilities, and soon nearly 1,000
Chesapeake Logperch fry were swimming in brood tanks.
Chesapeake Logperch occupy the mainstem river, as well
as the lowermost section of a few tributaries. The recovery
team determined that logperch releases in the unoccupied
pools needed to occur in tributaries, in order to minimize the
dilution effect of putting several hundred small fish directly
into a half-mile wide river. Therefore, habitat and water quality
assessments were first made on these occupied tributaries for
comparison with the upriver candidate streams.
Candidate streams in the release/re-establishment pools
were then examined for suitability. A rigorous assessment
was subsequently conducted on streams exhibiting the
most potential. Conewago Creek and Chiques Creek were
determined to possess characteristics most similar to those of
the occupied streams.
In addition, these streams were surveyed to determine the
composition of fish communities prior to releases. If releases
succeed in establishing new populations, additional surveys
will be conducted to identify changes to the communities with
integrated logperch.
Research to determine specific habitat preferences, seasonal
movements, spawning behavior, and diet were also initiated in
the first year of the project.
To facilitate these and other studies, each logperch to be
released during this project is marked with an elastomer tag.

These tags are injected beneath the skin of fish as a liquid and
cure into a small, flexible marker. Each group of logperch is
tagged with a distinct color, so biologists who subsequently
capture the fish are certain of origin and age. Representatives
of each group are also tested for disease prior to release and
thus far have received a clean bill of health.
Commission biologists are quite pleased with the progress
made during the first year of the project and look forward to
additional releases and work that will help ensure the success
of these stockings. Future studies will look at how the logperch
respond to and avoid predators, and how they interact with
other species of darters already present in the streams. Most
importantly, the recovery team will look at the survival of the
fish released in 2019. With luck, they will find not only tagged
fish but unmarked juveniles resulting from spawnings that will
occur this spring.
Dr. Jay Stauffer, Jr. of PSU summed up the first year
by saying, "What we accomplished was far beyond our
expectations, but it seems that the more information we
gather, the more questions we have about the conservation of
this fish."
The recovery team is optimistic, however, that the most
important questions will be resolved, and Chesapeake
Logperch will once again swim throughout the lower
Susquehanna River.
For more information on the Chesapeake Logperch, read
"Chessie", by Rob Criswell in the November/December 2013
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater, at www.fishandboat.com/
Fish/PennsylvaniaFishes/GalleryPennsylvaniaFishes/
Documents/07chessie.pdf. A video about the recovery
of the Chesapeake Logperch is available at www.youtube.com/
PaFishandBoat.

Collecting wild Chesapeake Logperch (from left to right) Zach Shumber, PSU, Douglas Fischer, PFBC, and Mitch Bargo, PFBC.
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Pennsylvania Angler & Boater * March/April 2020

http://www.fishandboat.com/Fish/PennsylvaniaFishes/GalleryPennsylvaniaFishes/Documents/07chessie.pdf http://www.fishandboat.com/Fish/PennsylvaniaFishes/GalleryPennsylvaniaFishes/Documents/07chessie.pdf http://www.fishandboat.com/Fish/PennsylvaniaFishes/GalleryPennsylvaniaFishes/Documents/07chessie.pdf http://www.youtube.com/PaFishandBoat http://www.youtube.com/PaFishandBoat http://www.fishandboat.com

Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2020

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