Panama City Fisheries Resources Office: FY 2003 Annual Report

Abstract

HIGHLIGHTS FOR FY 20031. Continued a 3-year threatened Gulf sturgeon population estimate in the EscambiaRiver, Florida and conducted presence-absence surveys in 4 other Florida riversystems and 1 bay.2. Five juvenile Gulf sturgeon collected, near the mouth of the ChoctawhatcheeRiver, Florida, were equipped with sonic tags and monitored while over-winteringin Choctawhatchee Bay.3. Continued to examine Gulf sturgeon marine habitat use.4. Implemented Gulf Striped Bass Restoration Plan by coordinating the 20th AnnualMorone Workshop, leading the technical committee, transporting broodfish, and coordinating the stocking on the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) riversystem.5. Over 73,000 Phase II Gulf striped bass were marked with sequential coded wiretags and stocked in the Apalachicola River. Post-stocking evaluations wereconducted at 31 sites.6. Three stream fisheries assessment s were completed to evaluate the fishcommunity at sites slated for habitat restoration by the Partners for Fish andWildlife Program (PFW).7. PFW program identified restoration needs and opportunities for 10 areas.8. Developed an Unpaved Road Evaluation Handbook.9. Completed restoration of Chipola River Greenway, Seibenhener StreambankRestoration, Blackwater River State Forest, and Anderson Property.10. Assessments for fluvial geomorphic conditions for design criteria were completedfor 3 projects.11. Geomorphology in Florida streams initiated development of Rosgen regionalcurves for Northwest Florida for use by the Florida Department of Transportation.12. Developed a Memorandum of Understanding between partners for enhancing,protecting, and restoring stream, wetland, and upland habitat in northwest Florida13. Completed aquatic fauna and fish surveys with new emphasis on integration ofdata from reach level into watershed and landscape scale and keeping databasecurrent.14. Compliance based sampling of impaired waterbodies on Eglin Air Force Base inconjunction with Florida Department of Environmental Protection for TotalMaximum Daily Load development support.15. Surveyed 20 sites for the federally endangered Okaloosa darter, provided habitatdescriptions, worked with partners to implement key recovery tasks and setpriorities for restoration.16. Worked with partners to develop a freshwater mussel survey protocol to providestandard operating procedures for establishing the presence/absence of federallylisted mussel species within a Federal project area.17. GIS database was created to identify all known freshwater mussel records fromthe northeast Gulf ecosystem.18. Completed recovery plan for seven freshwater mussels and drafted candidateelevation package for seven additional mussels. Developed proposals toimplement recovery plan.19. Worked with Corps of Engineers and State partners to develop improved reservoiroperating policies to benefit both riverine and reservoir fisheries for the ACF riversystem.20. Multiple outreach projects were completed to detail aquatic resourcesconservation opportunities.21. Multiple stream restoration and watershed management projects initiated orcompleted (see Appendix A).