Imperiled Finfish and Mussel Restoration in the Upper Tennessee River System

The southeastern United States exhibits high levels of endemic aquatic biodiversity, including both fishes and invertebrates. This biodiversity is imperiled by threats ranging from siltation to dams to toxic spills. At the same time, some aquatic ecosystems have recovered to the point that extirpated populations can be restored. Conservation aquaculture is the production of aquatic organisms for purposes of restoring or augmenting imperiled species or populations. Development of conservation aquaculture is going forward in federal and state hatcheries, at universities and non-governmental organizations. We describe conservation aquaculture activities aimed at restoration of non-game fishes and freshwater mussels of the upper Tennessee basin. Conservation Fisheries, Inc. has developed methods for the culture of over 50 species, including 30 darters, 10 minnows and shiners, 9 madtoms, and 4 sunfishes. Successes include reestablishment of smoky madtom (Noturus baileyi), yellowfin madtom (Noturus flavipinnus), and Citico darter (Etheostoma sitikuense) into Abrams Creek in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Virginia Tech and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have partnered to develop methods for the culture of imperiled freshwater mussels. Over the last 10 years, the annual production of juveniles has gradually increased, such that we typically produce roughly 10,000 or more juveniles of 6-10 species each year for release to natal rivers in the upper Tennessee basin to restore populations destroyed by toxic spills. Both of our groups have demonstrated our methods to aquaculturists approaching the production of other imperiled species. We predict that conservation aquaculture will play an increasing role in recovery of imperiled aquatic species.