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The Hellgrammite‐Crayfish Bait Fishery of the New River and Its Tributaries, West Virginia
Author(s) -
Nielsen Larry A.,
Orth Donald J.
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<0317:thcbfo>2.3.co;2
Subject(s) - dozen , crayfish , fishery , tributary , recreational fishing , geography , fishing , biology , mathematics , arithmetic , cartography
The bait fishery for hellgrammites Corydalus cornutus and for the crayfish Orconectes sanbornii sanbornii , O. virilis , and Cambarus sciotensis on the New River and its tributaries, West Virginia, includes commercial and angler harvests with a combined retail value of US$134,000 in 1983. Approximately 50 licensed bait dealers collected 10,812 dozen crayfish and 52,762 dozen hellgrammites, worth $2,000 per licensee in retail sales. New River anglers collected 5,640 dozen crayfish and 9,153 dozen hellgrammites in 1983. The overall commercial and recreational harvest exceeded 78,000 dozen organisms, 79% of which were hellgrammites. Most of the crayfish (70%) were bought and used locally. Only a small portion of hellgrammites (22%) were used locally; the remainder presumably supplied the statewide hellgrammite market. The commercial fishery is highly integrated, with most persons harvesting bait and selling directly to anglers. The hellgrammite–crayfish bait fishery is a “cottage industry” based on local exploitation of a natural resource. The fishery is an integral part of the popular recreational fishery on the New River, which should be considered in the future management of the New River as a national river.