Juvenile channel catfish habitat use in the middle Mississippi River

Channel catfish are recreationally and commercially important in rivers.  However, anthropogenic activities have heavily degraded riverine catfish habitats.  To maintain catfish populations, channel catfish early-life habitat use needs to be understood.  We quantified habitat use of juvenile channel catfish in the Middle Mississippi River (MMR) during 2004 through 2007 by trawling in main channel, channel border, island, and artificial structure (i.e., river training structures or wing dikes) habitat features (N = 878 trawls; N = 538 juvenile channel catfish).  Channel catfish occurred most frequently in island areas and off-channel habitats.  Few juvenile channel catfish occurred in the main channel.  All macrohabitats were used by all sizes of juvenile channel catfish, with the exception of the main channel, where only larger juvenile channel catfish occurred.  Within each habitat, juvenile channel catfish were most abundant in sand substrate, low velocity (i.e., ~0.1-0.4 m/s), and shallow depths (i.e., 3-5 m).  Channel catfish in the MMR use a variety of habitats during early life.  As such, maintaining existing habitats, creating habitats with these attributes, and coupling this with proper management will ensure sustainability of the channel catfish population and thus allow commercial and recreational fishing to persist in the MMR.