Re-Visiting the Wabash River Fish Community Nearly 20 Years After a Power Plant's Retirement, Year 1 Results

The objective of this study is to determine if the Wabash River fish community has changed since the Breed Power Plant shut down in 1994.  Fish were collected monthly from July through October, 2011 from Darwin Ferry, Indiana to York, Illinois by electrofishing and seining.  The Breed Power Plant operated near the midpoint of the study area for over 30 years.  Current data will be compared to historical data from the 70s and 80s, collected when the plant was operating.  Preliminary results indicate that the fish community has not changed appreciably; however, some changes were apparent:  1) darter diversity appears to be somewhat lower in 2011, 2) madtom numbers appear to have declined, 3) shoal chub, which was common in the 80’s, was absent from collections in 2011, and 4) nine new species were collected in 2011.  At least one more year of sampling will be conducted.  However, the first year results indicate that the fish community in this reach of the Wabash River is similar to that when the plant was operating, suggesting that the plant had little or no long-term effect on the fish community.