New Study Underway to Estimate the Impact of Lesser Scaup on Arkansas’ Baitfish Industry

Authors

Stephen Clements, Mississippi State UniversityFollow
Brian Davis, Mississippi State UniversityFollow
Brian S. Dorr, USDA/APHIS/WS National Wildlife ReFollow
Luke A. Roy, UAPBFollow
Anita M. Kelly, UAPBFollow
Carole R. Engle, Engle-Stone AquaticsFollow

Date of this Version

2016

Citation

Published in Arkansas Aquafarming 33(3):2 (October 2016).

Comments

U.S. Government Work

Abstract

The baitfish industry is an important economic enterprise for many aquaculture producers in Arkansas. The industry generates approximately $30 million annually in farm-gate sales of these small fish that include fathead minnows, goldfish and golden shiners. Diving ducks known as scaup, or “Bluebills,” spend late fall through early spring in Arkansas and Mississippi on deep water wetlands, rivers, and aquaculture ponds. The notion that scaup are consuming an abundance of baitfish in Arkansas ponds has concerned commercial growers for several years.