Monitoring fish distributions along electrofishing segments.

Abstract

Electrofishing is widely used to monitor fish species composition and relative abundance in streams and lakes. According to standard protocols, multiple segments are selected in a body of water to monitor population relative abundance as the ratio of total catch to total samplingeffort. The standard protocol provides an assessment of fish distribution at a macrohabitat scale among segments, but not within segments. An ancillary protocol was developed for assessing fish distribution at a finer scale within electrofishing segments. The ancillary protocol was used to estimate spacing, dispersion, and association of two species along shore segments in two local reservoirs. The added information provided by the ancillary protocol may be useful for assessing fish distribution relative to fish of the same species, to fish of different species, and to environmental or habitat characteristics.