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The Chemistry of Impounded Waters as a Factor in Game Fish Production
Author(s) -
Senning William C.
Publication year - 1939
Publication title -
transactions of the american fisheries society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.696
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1548-8659
pISSN - 0002-8487
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8659(1938)68[303:tcoiwa]2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - stocking , fish <actinopterygii> , environmental science , fishery , vegetation (pathology) , hydrology (agriculture) , ecology , biology , geology , medicine , geotechnical engineering , pathology
Since 1931, the writer has been engaged in making a survey of small lakes and ponds for the New York Conservation Department Biological Survey. During this time, he has observed and studied a large number of new and old artificial lakes. These studies have included, among other important factors in fish production, an analysis of those chemical conditions that directly affect fish life. Studies were made on Minerva Lake over a period of several years after the construction of the lake. From the many lakes studied, pertinent examples are chosen which indicate that In small newly impounded waters, chemical conditions tend, at first, to be unsuitable for game fish throughout the entire pond and therefore no stocking should be done. As the impounded waters increase in age, an improvement in chemical conditions is noted, but this improvement usually involves only the surface layer of water. Stocking must hence be limited to species tolerant of warm surface temperatures. The colder bottom‐waters rarely undergo sufficient chemical improvement to support cold‐water species. Each lake presents a new problem in itself but, in general, the rate and degree of recovery of newly impounded waters depend on the volume and temperature of the water passing through the pond, on the depth of the water, and on the type of vegetation established there.