U.S.

Fish & Wildlife Service

Neosho National Fish Hatchery Newsletter
February -April 2010

It’s All Coming Together

The visitor center has really begun to look like the
facility we have been imagining it could be for the
last 6 years. Recent construction has produced a
visible, tangible building that looks even better
than our pictures of the computer-designed
replica. The noticeable progress has been
exciting to observe.
In early March, the much discussed onion and
pyramid domes were lifted and carefully
positioned. By the end of March, the cement
board siding was mostly nailed in and drywall
installation was in full swing. Within a month, the
drywall was mudded and ready for painting. The
paint crew has taken less than three weeks to
prime and paint the exterior siding and most of the The onion dome required spotters on both sides to
interior already. Almost all painted surfaces are ensure the proper alignment and position.
on their second coat of paint. Other than some
roof flashing, the metal roofing is now in place. All windows and most of the exterior doors have been
installed. Solar panels have been placed on the south-facing slope of the roof and are working. The
interior ceiling grid installation started this week.
With so many changes, it is no surprise that we are not the only ones watching the progress closely.
Along with spring and the warm weather come tours and increased visitors. They are just as eager to
see the new center completed as we are.
Knowing that it took the local community’s support, our local leaders’ backing, and cooperation within
the Fish and Wildlife Service to make this building possible, we look forward to sharing this facility
with the public. It is tangible evidence of what public support has achieved for the city of Neosho and
for the future of fisheries.

Left Photo: Metal roofing is still being installed and siding on south side of building is complete.
Right Photo: Most of the building has been painted two coats and solar panels are installed.
 U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

February-April 2010

Proposed Listing of the Shovelnose Sturgeon

At the end of January, hatchery manager David Hendrix travelled to Cape Girardeau, MO to sit in on a public
hearing regarding the proposed listing of the shovelnose sturgeon as threatened. Here is a brief summary
regarding the issue taken from the Fish and Wildlife Service website:

‘On September 21, 2009, we announced a proposed rule to treat the shovelnose sturgeon as a threatened
species under the Act. The shovelnose sturgeon and the endangered pallid sturgeon are difficult to
differentiate in the wild and inhabit overlapping portions of the Missouri and Mississippi River basins. Four
States where the two species commonly coexist allow for commercial fishing of shovelnose sturgeon and their
roe (eggs sold as caviar). Because of the close resemblance in appearance between the shovelnose and
pallid sturgeon, fishermen, State regulators, and law enforcement personnel have substantial difficulty in
differentiating between the two species and their roe. This similarity of appearance has resulted in the
documented take of pallid sturgeon and is a threat to the species. The determination that the shovelnose
sturgeon should be treated as threatened due to similarity of appearance will substantially facilitate law
enforcement actions to protect and conserve pallid sturgeon.’ (http://www.fws.gov/mountain-
prairie/missouririver/moriver_pallidsturgeon.htm)

The proposed listing may give our partners in the field better results on their mark-recapture data. With
commercial fishing prohibited in designated areas where pallid and shovelnose habitat overlap, it will be
interesting to see how the juveniles that we stock respond in the absence of fishing pressure. It will take up to
12 months for Fish and Wildlife Service to make a final determination on the proposed listing.

Follow the link below to read more about this topic.

http://www.fws.gov/Midwest/endangered/fishes/shovelnose.html

Examples of educational photos that compare the two

species side by side to help educate the public on the
difference between pallid and shovelnose sturgeon.(Left:
Missouri Department of Conservation photo, Bottom:
FWS photo)

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 U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

February-April 2010

Training
Sturgeon Broodstock Show Weight Increase Over Time
Assistant Manager
Of the fifteen adult pallids that Roderick May visited
we currently have on station, National Conservation
we acquired five during the fall Training Center to
and winter of 2008. Janice coordinate the Fisheries
Bryan from USGS’s Columbia Academy course.
office used ultrasound and
Biologist Melissa
endoscopy technology to
Cheung attended the
determine that these five fish two-week long course
would soon be capable of Fisheries Academy at
spawning. Since then, the fish NCTC.
have been quarantined, fed
rainbow trout fingerlings, and Manager David Hendrix
monitored, in the hopes that and Assistant Manager
some of them might be ready for this year’s spawning season. Rod May braved cold
winter conditions,
Apparently they were listening because all four of the females are now abnormally high amounts
reproductive and gravid (carrying developed eggs). Two of them have of snow, and dicey road
conditions to attend the
almost doubled their weight. The third female has more than doubled
Climate Change training
her weight. And the fourth female, at NCTC.
one of our smallest fish, started out
just over 5 pounds and is now 7.25 Hatchery Manager
pounds. The fifth sturgeon, a male, David Hendrix drove to
has doubled his weight as well. Mississippi to participate
These pallids have been on station in training regarding
the longest, but the newer arrivals Landscape Conservation
are not too far behind in weight gain. Cooperatives (LCCs).
Although some may call it boring,
their strict diet of rainbow trout Lead Biologist Jaime
Pacheco drove through
fingerlings certainly seems to satiate
sleet and snow to catch his
their appetite. flight to NCTC. He
attended the week-long
Let the Sturgeon Tagging Begin! Stream Habitat
At the end of February, we began our first tagging session. Focusing on Measurement course.
the juveniles we had on station the
longest, we PIT tagged and removed the 5th left scute on 3,149 fish.
With the help of eleven people from Nebraska Game and Parks
Commission and Missouri Department of Conservation’s Blind Pony
State Fish Hatchery and Chillicothe Field Station, we completed the
effort in one day.

Left Photo: MDC staff from Blind Pony SFH PIT tag sturgeon juveniles.

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 U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

February-April 2010

To the Missouri River They Go

Tagged, 11 month old sturgeon juveniles have been
stocked into 5 different sites thus far: Herman,
Weldon Spring, Portland and Lexington, all stocking
points on the Missouri River in Missouri, and
Atchison, Kansas. With just over 1000 young of the
year left to stock, we will put the rest of the fish into
the last two stocking sites: Nebraska City and
Ponca State Park. Since this is our busy time of the
year, we are already ready to start spawning our
pallid broodstock
and have tanks set-
up for sturgeon
eggs and fry.

Above Photo: MDC staff from Chillicothe, MO transfer fish from Neosho’s
distribution unit onto their boat on the Missouri River.
Left Photo: Michelle Dalbey of Blind Pony SFH loads juvenile sturgeon from
Neosho NFH onto her distribution unit for stocking.

Meetings
Time to Say Goodbye
March has been the busiest by far in terms of sending 10 Project Engineer Carol Fix and
inch+ trout to Lake Taneycomo. With eleven trips in the
Contracting Officer Elaine
books for this month, we have shipped 42,635 fish, or
19,983 pounds of trout. Twenty-six thousand of those DeGroot and Crossland
grew to size in our earthen ponds. Kept back a month Construction attended the monthly
due to bad winter weather, these fish were over 11 progress meeting on construction of
inches on the visitor center. Problems,
average. timetables and perimeter fencing
were among the topics of
discussion.

David Rauch, Senior Staff

Representative for Senator Claire
McCaskill visited the hatchery on
April 28th to tour the visitor center.
He previously attended the ground-
breaking ceremony for the visitor
center on July 1st of last year.

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 U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

February-April 2010

April 18th, Open House at Neosho

Blessed with great weather and a steady,
continuous flow of pedestrian traffic, we were
kept very busy at this year’s open house. As
usual we had a mélange of educational booths:
George Washington Carver National
Monument’s educational booth, a rock specialist,
a snake specialist, the Southern Missouri
beekeepers club, the master gardeners club and
of course Missouri Department of Conservation’s
tree giveaway booth. The state had hundreds of
young pine, redbud and white flowering

dogwood trees free for the public. Hatchery staff

served the public lunch. Friends of the Fish Hatchery
group members and volunteers contributed baked
goods and their time to ensure that the day went
smoothly.

Above Photo: Frank Martinez educates about venomous

snakes and brought a couple lively examples.
Right Photo: Neosho staff serves lunch and refreshments to
the public.

National Fisheries Friends Partnership

The annual meeting for the National Fisheries Friends Partnership was held in Alrington, VA
from April 20-22. Hatchery Manager David Hendrix and Jerry Christian, President of the
Friends of Neosho National Fish Hatchery, attended the week-long meeting. Future friends
group initiatives were discussed and networking with friends groups from across the US was
made possible.

Unless otherwise stated, articles are written and assembled by Melissa Cheung.

Interested in learning more about what we do? Visit our blog at www.NeoshoNFH.blogspot.com
520 E Park Street, Neosho, MO 64850
417-451-0554