FISHES
Lake Waccamaw Fish and Mussel Monitoring Surveys by Emilia Omerberg, Central Region Aquatic Wildlife Diversity Biologist and Brena Jones, Central AWD Coordinator
W ildlife Commission staff, in part- nership with NC State Parks, has conducted annual standardized surveys since 2009 for three fish Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) at multiple sites in Lake Waccamaw, including the endemic, federally Threat- ened Waccamaw Silverside. The mean number of Waccamaw Silversides col- lected per minute of seining (catch rate) at all sites combined has been highly variable over ten sampling years and was 2.3 fish per minute (fpm) of seining in 2024. This value has ranged from 1.82 fpm in 2017 to 23.5 fpm in 2009. Vari- ability is expected due to the fish’s schooling behavior, preference for open waters of the lake, and varied sampling conditions. The highest catch rate at a sin- gle site in 2024 was 7.1 fpm. Waccamaw Killifish and Waccamaw Darters were also
EMILIA OMERBERG/NCWRC
Above: A Lake Waccamaw Broadtail Madtom. Right: A young Tidewater Mucket.
successfully collected, showing that populations persist within Lake Waccamaw. Staff also conducted quantitative mollusk surveys in Lake Waccamaw, which are completed biennially since 2009. Data analysis from this survey is ongoing, but the Waccamaw form of Elliptio congarea and Tidewater Mucket remain the most abundant mollusk species, composing over 90% of the individuals at each study site. In exciting news, a Broadtail Madtom was also incidentally collected during the mussel surveys! This is only the 4th individual of this very rare native catfish collected from the lake’s genetically distinct population since 2002.
BRENA JONES/NCWRC
59 2024 Wildlife Diversity Program Annual Report
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