The Commercial Seining Industry in Northwest Texas

--- Page 1 --- forego fare THE COMMERCIAL SEINING INDUSTRY IN NORTHWEST TEXAS Prepared by: Joseph E. Kraai Fisheries Management Biologist, Canyon, Texas --- Page 2 --- Appendix Appendix Appendix Appendix Appendix Appendix Appendix Appendix Table of Contents Summary of questionnaire sent to bait dealers. Economic information regarding the industry. Select life history information of "river minnows". Literature cited. Reservoirs supplied by commercial minnow seiners. Summary of Field Trips. Maps illustrating counties where most commercial seining activities occur and the river systems and reservoirs effected. Checklist of species collected during Texas Parks and Wildlife Department river surveys, 1954- 1980. --- Page 3 --- Appendix 1 --- Page 4 --- Please answer the following questions as detailed as possible. 1. Do you buy minnows from minnow seiners for retail sales to fishermen? 2. What approximate quantity (gallons or pounds) do you purchase annually from minnow seiners? 3. What approximate quantity (gallons or pounds) do you purchase annually from commercial minnow farmers? 4. What do you pay to the minnow seiners (per gallon or per pound) for small, medium, large and trotline size minnows? 5. What do you pay (per gallon or per pound) for small, medium, large and trotline size minnows purchased from commercial minnow farmers. 6. What do you charge (retail) for small, medium, large and trotline size minnows? 7. How important are minnow seiners to the successful operation of your business? 8. Do you seine minnows for you own dealership? 9. Do many of your customers request (prefer) “river minnows" for bait? --- Page 5 --- Summary of Questionnaire Sent to Licensed Bait Dealers Twenty five out of 66 licensed dealers responded. Nineteen out of twenty five dealers indicated they purchased minnows from commercial seiners (76%). The average quantity of minnows purchased by 18 dealers from minnow seiners annually was 201 gallons (Total gallons purchased = 3,618). One gallon is approximately 1,800 minnows. The average quantity of minnows purchased annually by 11 bait dealers from commercial minnow farmers was 236 gallons (Total gallons purchased = 2,596). The average price paid to commercial minnow seiners per gallon was $22.58. The average price paid to commercial minnow raisers per gallon of minnows was $27.88. Average retail price charged for 1 dozen minnows was $1.63. Four percent of the respondents indicated commercial minnow seiners were not important to business at all, 4% said slightly important, 48% indicated commercial seiners were very important to their business, 36% indicated they would eg Yo out of business without the commercial seiners, and 8% did not respond to this question. Forty percent of the respondents indicated they were active in commercial seining, 56% were not and 4% did not respond. Four percent of the respondents indicated river minnows were not important to their customers, 40% said they were very important, and 56% said river minnows were the most important minnow to their customers. --- Page 6 --- Appendix 2 --- Page 7 --- Economic Considerations Total purchases of commercially seined minnows reported on the questionnaires = 3,618 gallons (cost = $81,694.44). Total purchases from commercial minnow raisers = 2,596 gallons (cost = $72,376.48). There are approximately 1,800 minnows per gallon thus, 11,185,200 minnows are purchased annually by the reporting bait dealers - over half came from commercial seiners. Total retail value is difficult to assess because no information was available to determine mortality at the dealerships or to determine what percentage of the minnows are made into stink bait (dead minnows are sold wholesale for considerably less than live minnows). If we assume 1/2 of the minnows survive to be sold at retail rates (average price reported = $1.63/dozen) then the annual retail value to those who responded to the questionnaire is approximately $282,450.00 (less than 1/2 of the dealerships we contacted responded). --- Page 8 --- Appendix 3 --- Page 9 --- Select Life History Information Two species, the Mississippi silvery minnow Hybognathus nuchalis and the plains minnow H. placitus, are both referred to as the "river minnow". They are very closely related and similar in appearance (Minckley, 1959). They are the primary species commercial minnow seiners target in northwest Texas for sale to bait dealers and are the species most often asked for by bait fishermen in this area. These species are highly adaptive to the wide variety of temperature and salinity conditions found in the rivers and streams of northwest Texas. They rapidly repopulate watersheds following extended periods of drought, they can withstand severe flash flooding, and they are reported to be tolerant low dissolved oxygen levels (Cross, 1950). They become sexually mature at Age ie females produce up to 6,600 eggs, and they have a prolonged spawning season from May through August (Carlander, 1969). A closely related species, the eastern silvery minnow, Hybognathus regius, has been successfully cultured in small earthen ponds (Raney, 1941, Forney, 1957). Two of the commmercial seiners contacted indicated that they or their families have been actively seining the Pease and Canadian Rivers and their tributaries for more than 40 years. Both of these parties claim "river minnows" are still as plentiful as they were in the 1950's when conditions for seining are suitable. --- Page 10 --- Appendix 4 --- Page 11 --- Literature Cited Carlander, K. D., 1969. Handbook of freshwater fishery biology. Volume one. The Iowa State University Press, Ames, Iowa. Cross, F. B., 1950. Effects of sewage ana of headwater impoundment on the fishes of Stillwater Creek in Payne County, Oklahoma. The American Midland Naturalist, Vol. 43, No. 1, pp. 128-145. Forney, J. L., 1957. Bait fish production in New York Ponds. New York Fish and Game Journal, Vol. 4, No. 2 (1957). Minckley, W. L., 1959. Fishes of the Big Blue River Basin, Kansas. University of Kansas Publications. Museum of Natural History. Vol. 11, No. 7, pp. 401-442. University of Kansas, Lawrence. Raney, E. C., 1941. Propagation of the silvery minnow (Hybognathus nuchalis regius Girard) in ponds. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society Vol. 71 (1941). --- Page 12 --- Appendix 5 --- Page 13 --- Reservoirs Supplied with Bait by Commercial Minnow Seiners Arrowhead Baylor Diversion Ft. Phantom Hill Graham Greenbelt Kemp Kickapoo Mackenzie Meredith Miller Creek North Fork Buffalo Creek Pauline Possum Kingdom Stamford Texoma White River Wichita --- Page 14 --- Appendix 6 --- Page 15 --- Summary of Seine Samples 20' Seine (N=11) 60' Seine (N=8) Species No. No./drag No. No./drag iene ca, ee ee Gizzard shad 1 0.09 Plains minnow 252 22.91 23,793 2,974.13 Mississippi silvery minnow 1,057 96.09 Speckled chub 66 6.00 7,100 887.50 Emerald shiner 48 4.36 Red River shiner 60 5.45 6,683 835.38 Arkansas River shiner 572 52.00 Red shiner 639 58.09 Silverband shiner 60 5.45 29 3363 Sand shiner 733 66.64 Suckermouth minnow 54 4.91 Fathead minnow 9 0.82 Bullhead minnow 9 0.82 1 0.12 Channel catfish 1 0.09 2 0.25 Red River pupfish 489 44.45 278 34.75 Plains killifish 890 80.91 1,871 233.88 Mosquitofish 64 5.82 Green sunfish 1 0.09 Bluegill 2 0.18 Longear sunfish 1 0.09 119 14.88 Largemouth bass 10 0.91 Logperch 1 0.09 Freshwater drum 4 0.09 iL 0.12 ee ee Total 5,020 39,877 X 456.36 X 4,984.63 --- Page 16 --- Date: 7/12/90 Water Body: Pease River Between Crowell and Childress. Channel about 75 feet wide with low to moderate flow. Total Number of Stations: 6 Average Time/Drag: 2 minutes with 20' seine, 5.14 minutes with 60! seine. Average Catch/Drag With 60' Seine 6,084 fish Average Catch/Drag With 20' Seine = 180 fish Total catch = 40,140 fish Subsamples Species Number Percent Of Total Sample Plains minnow 178 59.7 Speckled chub 53 17.8 Red River Shiner 50 16.8 Red River Pupfish 2 0.7 Plains killifish 14 4.7 Longear sunfish i 0.3 NN eee Total 298 --- Page 17 --- Date: 9\12\90 Water Body: Canadian River. Stream channel narrow and shallow, could not use 60' seine in low flow conditions. Total Number of Seine Stations: 4 Average Time\Seine Drag: 3 minutes with 20' seine. Average Catch\Drag with 60 ft. Seine = Not used. Average Catch\Drag with 20 ft. Seine = 1,125 fish. Total Catch = 2.5 gallons (4,500 minnows) Subsamples Species Number Percent of Total Sample Mississippi silvery minnow 28 23.5 Emerald shiner 4 1.0 Arkansas River shiner 53 12.09 Red shiner 55 13.2 Sand shiner 68 16.3 Suckermouth minnow 5 se Fathead minnow aL 0.2 Red River pupfish 45 10.8 Plains killifish 81 19.4 Mosquitofish 6 1.4 Largemouth bass 1 0.2 a Total 417 --- Page 18 --- Date: 9/27/90 Water Body: Wichita River west of Lake Kemp. Water level high and current strong. Seining very difficult. Total Number of Seine Stations: 2 Average Time\Seine Drag: 5.5 minutes with 60' seine, 2.0 with 20' seine. Catch With 60' Seine: 53 fish Catch With 20' Seine: 11 fish Total Catch = 64 fish Samples Species Number Percent of TotalSample Speckled chub 20 Silverband shiner 38 Bullhead minnow 1 Plains killifish i Channel catfish 2 Bluegill 1 Freshwater drum 1 I Total 64 --- Page 19 --- Date: 9/27/90 Water Body: Wichita River East of Lake Diversion. and shallow, could not use 60' seine. Total Number of Seine Stations: 1 Time\Seine Drag: 2 minutes Catch With 60' Seine: N/A Catch With 20' Seine: 55 Total Catch = 55 Samples Species Number Speckled chub 1 Silverband shiner 10 Red shiner 33 Bullhead minnow 9 Mosquitofish 1 Logperch 1 Total 55 Channel narrow Percent of TotalSample --- Page 20 --- Date: 9/27/90 Water Body: Brazos River at Seymour. Water level high and current strong, seining very difficult. Total Number of Seine Stations: 2 Average Time\Seine Drag: 1 minute 20'seine, 2.5 minutes 60' seine Catch With 60' Seine: 44 Catch With 20' Seine: 39 Total Catch = 83 Samples Species Number Percent of TotalSample Plains minnow 79 Emerald shiner 3 Green sunfish 2. Total 83 --- Page 21 --- Date: 9/27/90 Water Body: Pease River at Vernon. Water level very low and river narrow. Could not use 60' seine. | Total Number of Seine Stations: 1 Time\Seine Drag: 3 minutes Catch With 60' Seine: N/A Catch With 20' Seine: 58 Total Catch = 58 Samples Species Number Percent of TotalSample Plains minnow 2 Red shiner i2 Silverband shiner 41 Gizzard shad i Bluegill 1 Largemouth bass 1 a Total 58 --- Page 22 --- Appendix 7 --- Page 23 --- AREA OF TEXAS WHERE MOST COMMERCIAL MINNOW SEINING AND SALES OCCUR WSS Z S wl ae --- Page 24 --- RIVER SYSTEMS AND IMPOUNDMENTS AFFECTED BY COMMERCIAL SEINING OPERATIONS Canadian River Meredith Res. Amarilloe Groanbelt nes. Goel! Fork Red River ><miODtrrad Prairie Dog Town Fork Red Rive Mackenzie Aes. Ohildrase Res “A\paylor Aes. Pauling Rea. — Red River North Pease Rl . Middle Pease aac WN. F. Butt. Or, Ree. Blg Wichita Alver South Pease oO North Wichita Middle Wichita Lubbock® South Wichita White Alver Agee. Kemp Aes. Diversion Aes. Kiokapoo Aes. Little Salt Fork Brazos A. Mitier's J Greek Aas. Brazos River Graha Stamford Aes. Si Clear Fork Brazos R. Wiohitea Rea. ‘Arrowhead Res. Wichita AR. Possum Kingdom Rea. --- Page 25 --- Appendix 8 --- Page 26 --- Checklist of species from River Surveys 1954 to 1980 Canadian Canadian Little Wichita Pease ; River River River River Species Scientific Name 1954-55 1983 1955-56 1956-57 Shovelnose sturgeon Scaphirhynchus platorynchus x Longnose gar Lepisosteus osseus x Shortnose gar L. platostomus ; x Gizzard shad Dorosoma cepedianum , Xx x X Goldeye Hiodon alosoides Xx Common carp Cyprinus carpio x x x Silvery minnow Hybognathus nuchalis x x Plains minnow H. placitus X Xx Speckled chub Hybopsis aestivalis x x x x Flathead chub H. gracilis x Silver chub H. storeriana x Golden shiner Notemigonus crysoleucas x x Emerald shiner Wotropis atherinoides x x Red River shiner Notropis beirdi x x Ghost shiner N. buchanani x Xx Arkansas River shiner WN. girardi x Red shiner Wu. lutrensis x xX - x x Chub shiner u. potteri xX x Silverband shiner u. shumardi X Sand shiner N. stramineous x Mimic shiner WN. volucel lus Suckermouth minnow Phenacobius mirabilis x Fathead minnow Pimephales promelas x x x Bullhead minnow P. vigilax x x x River carpsucker Carpoides carpio x x x Smallmouth buffalo Ictiobus bubalus x Bigmouth buffalo I. cyprinetlus x Black bullhead Ictalurus melas x x x Yellow bul Lhead I. natalis x Channel catfish I. punctatus x x x x Tadpole madtom ~ Noturus gyrinus x Flathead catfish Pylodictis olivaris x Red River pupfish Cyprinedon rubrofluviatilis Xx Plains killifish Fundulus kansae x x X Mosquitofish Ganbusia affinis x x x X White bass Morone chrysops x Green sunfish Lepomis cyanel lus x x x x Warmouth L. gulosus x x Orangespotted sunfish L. humilis x xX Bluegill L. macrochirus x x x x Longear sunfish L. megalotus x x x Redear sunfish L. microlophus x Largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides XK x x White crappie. Pomoxis annularis x x Logperch Percina caprodes x Freshwater drum Aplodinotus grunniens x