PADDLEFISH FOLLOW-UP, 1: Undoing the unintended 
consequences progress exacted on paddlefish ... we 
explain ahead on Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

Paddlefish, once abundant in the Big Cyprus Bayou and 
Caddo Lake, started disappearing following construction 
of a dam at Lake of the Pines in the late 1950s.

07 -- So, basically, it took away the flows that the paddlefish 
need, and it took away their spawning substrate; eventually 
paddlefish just went away.

Inland fisheries' Tim Bister says in spring 2014 a broad 
coalition of non-profits, landowners, and government 
agencies, reintroduced paddlefish into the system. But 
they first made improvements to benefit the rare species, 
including development of natural water releases 
upstream from Lake of the Pines, and gravel bar 
spawning areas.

14 -- We stocked 47 paddlefish, a year and a half old, between 
two and three feet long. And each were implanted with a radio 
transmitter, with a specific radio frequency that could be 
identified by a radio receiver.

Researchers tracked the paddlefish to see whether they 
would swim downstream over the spillway at Caddo Lake, 
and into Louisiana. 

12 -- [If they did], they wouldn't be able to swim back upstream 
because of that barrier. So, we wanted to make sure, by 
tracking these paddlefish, to see if they're going to stay in the 
system. And after a year, I'm happy to say, that no fish were 
seen going over the spillway.

The radio transmitter batteries are fading, but the data 
collected so far is promising. Until the paddlefish reach 
reproductive maturity, we won't know if we'll see a self-
sustaining population in Big Cyprus Bayou and Caddo 
Lake. The WSFR Supports our series.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife ... I'm Cecilia Nasti.

Total sound bite time:		 0:33.0
Maximum Script time:		 0:52.0 Suggested show time: 85.0 = 1:25