Columbia FRO biologists Jeff Finley and Wyatt Doyle demonstrate the proper deployment and use of the push trawl on the Missouri River near Columbia, Missouri. - FWS photo

State and Federal partners along the length of the Missouri River, part of the Pallid Sturgeon Population Assessment and Associated Fish Community Monitoring Program for the Missouri River, recently met to discuss the basin-wide implementation of a new fish community sampling gear called the push trawl. 

The push trawl was first implemented by Columbia FRO biologist Jeff Finley as a practical method for sampling fish in the complex side channel and shallow water habitats of the Missouri River and has since been used as a replacement for the labor intensive bag seine in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Shallow Water Habitat Mitigation Project. 

The design of the push trawl allows the net to be deployed off the front of the boat and is pushed through the water.  The push trawl design allows biologists to be more adaptive in targeting fish habitat that would otherwise be unavailable for sampling because of variations in depth and woody debris in shallow water habitats. 

Paired comparisons of push trawls to mini-fyke nets (another standard sampling method) in 2006 have already shown a two-fold increase in sampling efficiency when using the push trawl. 

Full implementation promises to increase the ability to sample shallow- and high-water velocity areas never before sampled in big rivers, and will enhance the programs ability to document fish community use and sturgeon recruitment throughout the year. 

Basin-wide implementation of the push trawl is expected to be July 1.

The push trawl is the fourth trawl design introduced by Columbia FRO for use in big river sampling since the Pallid Sturgeon Recovery Program began.  FRO staff's scientific expertise and role as a leader in science and technology inspires them to seek out and employ more efficient methods and approaches toward big river sampling to constantly improve fisheries conservation and pallid sturgeon recovery in the Missouri River.