Story Published:
Oct 11, 2007 at 4:50 PM CST
Story Updated:
Oct 12, 2007 at 9:42 AM CST
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BRANSON, Mo. -- A new program commits $4.5 million to improve fish habitats and water quality at Table Rock Lake. The Missouri Department of Conservation hopes to prevent the lake from running out of fish.
In the 50 years since Table Rock Lake was built, the trees that were left at the bottom of the lake have slowly disappeared, making the lake less hospitable to fish. This new program aims to bring back those habitats and improve the quality of the water.
Easton Hess was fishing Thursday afternoon. As he kept casting, passing fishermen offered advice to help grow his love of fishing.
A lot of people are willing to invest a lot of money to keep the fish biting for Hess and other anglers.
“As our reservoirs age, the interest in fishing increases and the environmental pressures on quality habitat will be key to sustain in the future,” said Matt Mauck, a state fisheries management biologist.
The Missouri Department of Conservation, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Foundation and Bass Pro Shops are pooling their resources to improve fish habitats at Table Rock Lake.
“It's still a fantastic fishery. We still have good structure but we need to think of that second phase and what we can do to improve water quality at Table Rock Lake,” said Mauck.
One way they plan to do that is using a barge to drop more trees in the lake. The barge has a hydraulic lift on it so crews can put the trees exactly where they need to be.
They also plan to use some money to help clean septic tanks to keep the water in the lake clean. They hope all this work means, even if Hess didn’t catch anything on Thursday, they will bite in the future.
Across the nation, there's been a 20-percent drop in fish and aquatic life, so this is part of a nationwide program. Table Rock is the first lake to see the program in action.
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Edited news release from Bass Pro Shops:
The United States has lost 20 percent of our fish and aquatic populations and nearly 40 percent of the nation’s native fish species are in decline. The top contributing factor to this decline is habitat degradation and loss. In 2006 the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation joined federal and state agencies, conservation and angling organizations, and Bass Pro Shops to establish the National Fish Habitat Action Plan to help reverse this decline.
In conjunction with the creation of the Plan, and with Bass Pro Shops as the first corporate sponsor, the Foundation launched the “More Fish Campaign” to help raise awareness and funding to protect, enhance and restore abundant and healthy populations of fish and aquatic species to our nation’s waters. With funding from public and private partners, the “More Fish” grant programs invest in on-the-ground projects demonstrating innovative approaches to fish habitat conservation.
Table
Rock
Lake
has been chosen as the first pilot project focused on reservoir habitats and the health of their watersheds. Bass Pro Shops has committed $1.5 million over the next five years, which will be matched 2 to 1 by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and its partners including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Missouri Department of Conservation, and Arkansas Fish and Game Commission, for a total of $4.5 million being put into this important project. Another $2 million of Bass Pro Shops and NFWF funds will help fish habitat projects nationwide.
“Our reservoirs provide important habitat for many native and sport fish, attracting anglers, visitors and water related development that can accelerate pressure on the resources, if left unchecked,” said NFWF’s Krystyna Wolniakowski.
"Preserving quality habitat in the lake and tributaries that feed it will be essential to our efforts to sustain these important fisheries for the public. We are very thankful to the leadership of Bass Pro Shops, the Missouri Department of Conservation, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, an the U.S. Forest Service for stepping up on this important effort.”
“Table Rock contains the necessary components of economic importance, heavy public use, and adequate fish densities to serve as a national model in sustaining and improving fish populations in aging reservoirs and watersheds,” said Mauck.
Bass Pro Shops, along with Tracker Marine, designed and built a Fish Habitat Barge for the MDC to use for lake cover augmentation such as brushpiles, stump fields, rock reefs, etc.
“All of us at Bass Pro Shops and Tracker Marine are proud to be a part of this great initiative that will insure good fishing for future generations,” said Bass Pro Shops Director of Conservation Martin MacDonald. “It is also a great honor to have one of our fabulous Ozarks lakes chosen to be a model for many other reservoirs across the country.”
The MDC hired a full-time project specific fisheries biologist and will supply support staff to run the barge, as well as do improvements in the watershed, stream bank and riparian
corridor restoration, and other projects that will benefit water quality and
habitat. Financial assistance will also be given to the septic pump-out program operated by the James River Basin Partnership and Table Rock Lake Water Quality within the Table Rock watershed.
For more information on the Table Rock project go to morefish.org.
