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Environmental Factors Influencing Summer Angler Effort on the Jordan Dam Tailwater, Alabama
Author(s) -
Jackson Donald C.,
Davies William D.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
north american journal of fisheries management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.587
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1548-8675
pISSN - 0275-5947
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8675(1988)008<0305:efisae>2.3.co;2
Subject(s) - tailwater , streamflow , environmental science , hydrology (agriculture) , fishery , drainage basin , geography , oceanography , geology , cartography , geotechnical engineering , biology
The Coosa River below Jordan Dam, Alabama, supports a multispecies, warmwater, tailwater fishery. A principal concern has focused on maintaining sufficient flow to protect this fishery while simultaneously allowing substantial portions of water to be diverted from Jordan Lake through a new hydroelectric facility, from which the water is returned via a canal to the Coosa River 21 km below Jordan Dam, thus bypassing the Jordan Dam tailwater. To identify management options for the tailwater fishery during early and late summer fishing seasons, multipleregression models were generated with streamflow and climatic variables. In downstream reaches of the tailwater, water temperature and streamflow were the most important independent variables during early and late summer, respectively. The two most important variables identified for the stilling basin during these two seasons were secchi disc visibility and barometric pressure. In all reaches, angler effort was positively correlated with wind velocity during early summer and with minutes of sunshine during late summer. With the exception of late summer in downstream reaches, angler effort was negatively related to streamflow. A minimal‐flow regime appears to be acceptable for this type of tailwater fishery during the summer as long as discharges are adequate to maintain stream productivity.