Jackson Guard discovers new info on local fish

  • Published
  • By Scott Moorman
  • 96th Civil Engineer Squadron
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Monitoring the movements and behavior of high value targets is a mission usually reserved for covert special agents, unless the mark is a fish.

Targeting Gulf sturgeon, the 96th Civil Engineer Group's Natural Resource Management Section, known as Jackson Guard, is tracking the threatened species in an attempt to protect it from military mission impacts in the Gulf of Mexico.

The research project is a cooperative effort between the Air Force, Science Applications International Corporation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey, and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

"Prior to our study, we discovered a black hole in our data concerning the Gulf sturgeon's movements in marine waters near Eglin's test ranges," said SAIC's Amanda Robydek, environmental scientist and the project lead investigator. "For this reason, JG felt it was in their best interest to determine when and where the fish would most likely to be present in the Gulf ranges."

According to Ms. Robydek, Gulf sturgeon are anadromous, meaning adult fish move into freshwater rivers to spawn during the spring and migrate into marine waters in the cooler months to eat. However, she said JG had no definitive data to determine where the fish spends its time in the Gulf.

JG is adding some missing pieces to the sturgeon puzzle that should improve conservation efforts by defining mission avoidance zones, easing mission impacts on the fish and enhancing Gulf range mission capabilities, Ms. Robydek said.

Protected by the Endangered Species Act of 1972, the Gulf sturgeon's territory encompasses portions of the Eglin Gulf Test and Training Range and Santa Rosa Island Test and Training Complex. Under Section 7 of the Act, federal agencies are required to gain approval from marine and wildlife agencies before conducting activities that may impact protected species.

She said the new data would be shared with fish and wildlife regulators to help improve consultations with the services, accelerating the permit approval process. Regulators would also be able to use the information during consultations with other federal and state agencies.

Funded by a Department of Defense's Legacy Resource Management Program grant, JG and USFWS researchers tagged 80 adult Gulf sturgeon from area rivers with acoustic transmitters.

"This relatively new field of acoustic telemetry allows researchers to quickly gather migratory behavior without having to recapture the tagged fish," said Mike Nunley, an SAIC marine biologist.

To record the sturgeon's habits, JG and SAIC researchers anchored data receiver buoys throughout area waterways. However, receivers located 1,500 meters off the Gulf coast provided what Ms. Robydek considers the most important find.

"Nearly all the Gulf detections came within 1,000 meters from the shoreline, indicating the fish seemed to hug the coast instead of moving into the Gulf," said Ms. Robydek. "This means sturgeon are not heading into marine waters nearly as far as we once thought."

Ms. Robydek said the find enhances the Gulf ranges near-shore capabilities because simply moving missions beyond the 1,500 meters mark would eliminate most potential impacts on the fish.

"This is the first major Gulf sturgeon study we've ever done," she said "It really makes everyday an "ah-ha" moment."

Data from the study is being used to help regulators analyze potential Gulf sturgeon impacts of proposed oil spill prevention measures along the Gulf Coast.

"For the most part, the study has provided significant insight into the Gulf sturgeon's movement and distribution trends," Ms. Robydek said. "However, a few more years of tagging and tracking are necessary to obtain more accurate and conclusive results."
The research is expected to undergo a peer review in the fall of 2011.

The Legacy Resource Management Program provides financial assistance to DoD natural and cultural resources conservation efforts. The program assists DoD in protecting and enhancing resources while supporting military readiness. A Legacy project may involve regional ecosystem management initiatives, habitat preservation efforts, archaeological investigations, invasive species control, Native American consultations, and/or monitoring and predicting migratory patterns of birds and animals.