Current Management
The floodplain environment that Lepomis humilis are so fond of is easily subject to change, by natural or human activities. In many habitats that are natural homes to L. humilis, connectivity between rivers and lakes has been altered and flooding incidents have been reduced for agricultural gain. The orangespotted sunfish is one of many species that are characteristic to floodplain lakes and has been affected by the degradation of this system. The flat nature of floodplain lake areas makes agricultural runoff and runoff from manufacturers a distinct problem to water quality. Inputs from runoff can increase sedimentation, which has many detrimental effects to habitats, such as reduced oxygen concentration and lake eutrophication, a nutrient enrichment of lake water from runoff. Fortunately for orangespotted sunfish, a species that thrives in turbid, shallow systems with low oxygen content, increased sedimentation is not decreasing their habitat, though the changes may be fragmenting the habitat. For species in the East Tennessee region, bioaccumulation of harmful materials such as mercury from pollution has become an issue, especially in Oak Ridge, TN near the energy plants. The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) has performed multiple studies that found one good strategy to combat this trend- the reduction of organic inputs to stream headwaters to decrease bioaccumulation downstream. TDEC created a management plan that uses fish, including sunfish, to measure and monitor water contamination in this watershed after inputs have been reduced. In Canada, according to the Fisheries Act, this and all fish species are required to be protected for spawning, nursery and residence habitat through proper species management. Currently, studies have used many methods to assess L. humilis population assemblages such as traps of plastic netting, pulsed DC electrofishing, tandem fyke and mini-fyke nets.
Read more about this topic: Orangespotted Sunfish
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