Survival of Gizzard Shad after Dummy Tag Implantation

We implanted acoustic transmitters in adult Gizzard Shad Dorosoma cepedianum to assess movements in a Missouri River impoundment. Gizzard Shad have not been implanted with transmitters prior to this study, so post-surgery survival information was needed. Our objective was to determine short-term survival of Gizzard Shad following capture and surgery. Adult Gizzard Shad were collected by electrofishing during April-May 2014 and 2015. Forty-nine fish were surgically implanted with Vemco V13 dummy tags, and 40 fish were controls and no surgery performed. Fish were held in net-pens, and survival assessed 3 d (2014) and 5 d (2015) post-surgery. We used ANOVA to test for differences in survival of tagged and control fish (α = 0.10). We assessed effects on survival with logistic regressions (α = 0.10). No difference existed between survival of tagged (86.7%) and control fish (88.3 %; p = 0.7). Water temperature best explained survival of Gizzard Shad (p = 0.097); fish survival increased as water temperature increased. Survival of Gizzard Shad implanted with dummy tags was similar to control fish, suggesting effects of implantation and surgery duration have no adverse effect. Mortality in control fish indicates handling protocols should be refined to increase post-surgery survival.