Highlights From the New Long-Term Illinois, Mississippi, Ohio and Wabash Rivers Fish Population Monitoring Program

The Long-Term Illinois, Mississippi, Ohio and Wabash Rivers Fish Population Monitoring Program, or LTEF (long-term electrofishing), originally began in 1957 by Dr. William Starrett.  The original LTEF fish monitoring program was established to evaluate fish populations along the navigational reaches of the Illinois Waterway.  The success of the LTEF project on the Illinois River led to the program expansion in 2009.  This expansion included additional sampling reaches in the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers. In 2010, the program again expanded to include additional sampling reaches on the Mississippi, Ohio, and Wabash Rivers.  In total, 123 random sites on the Illinois River, 123 random sites on the Mississippi River, 60 random sites on the Ohio River, and 66 random sites on the Wabash River were added to the original 27 LTEF fixed sites.  The expansion of the LTEF program has documented differences and similarities among fish populations within the major rivers of Illinois.  The LTEF program allows researchers and managers to examine spatial and temporal trends in fish populations of the selected rivers, and expand long-term fisheries databases that provide information required for management of the fisheries of the Illinois, Mississippi, Ohio, and Wabash Rivers.