Volunteers needed for Lower Missouri River fisheries work.

Would you like to get some experience conducting fisheries work on the Lower Missouri River? We are looking for volunteers to assist with field work conducting pallid sturgeon brood stock collection and sturgeon monitoring sampling. Work will be primarily in the Columbia MO area, with lesser amounts in or near St. Louis area and will consist of running trotlines, gillnets and trammel nets. Tasks consist of baiting hooks, deployment of gear, retrieval of gear, picking fish from nets, collecting length, weights, tag numbers and other related information. You will be working with many shovelnose sturgeon, and incidental catch of other species and a good likelihood to see and work with the Federally endangered pallid sturgeon. Most work will be all day on the river so you will need to bring a lunch. Expect to get wet and dirty! We can provide some personal equipment (rain gear, PFD’s, gloves…) as needed. You will need to sign a USFWS volunteer waver form. We are looking for workers, so do not expect this to be a ride along trip on the river! This is a great opportunity to experience work on an ecosystem that few see other than from a highway bridge and interact with species that few ever see.

If you are interested, feel free to contact me at andy_starostka@fws.gov