By
Jessice Willingham, 4/8/16, nondoc.com
TISHOMINGO, Okla. — State Highway
7 runs through rural woods and quiet streams just outside of this town of about
3,000. If you blink while driving the quiet road, you may miss one of the
premier wildlife conservation operations in the region.
The Tishomingo National Fish
Hatchery was established in 1929 and is one of the oldest water rights
in Oklahoma,
according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
Spanning 235 acres next to Pennington Creek, the
TNFH stands as the largest federal hatchery in the southwest region
of the U.S., and the largest warm-water hatchery in the country. It
features three fish-holding houses, four circular tanks, and six large concrete
raceways.
But underneath the surface of a
select few of its 62 ponds, the alligator snapping turtle is quietly making its
comeback.
“One of our core mission values
is to keep the species from becoming extinct,” said Ralph Simmons, assistant
project leader for the hatchery. “We work with threatened, endangered, and
sport species like paddlefish, catfish, alligator gar and the Arkansas River
shiner. But we
are the only federal hatchery working with alligator snapping turtles.”
The alligator snapping turtle was
slowly declining until the hatchery began its captive-rearing program, Simmons
said. The hatchery’s original broodstock of alligator snapping turtles was
procured from a law enforcement raid on a private production operation in 1999.
Through a competitive federal multi-state reimbursement agreement, the
Tishomingo National Fish Hatchery began the turtle breeding and reintroduction
program in
2002. The program will culture three generations of turtles for Louisiana,
Illinois and Oklahoma, where the native alligator snapping turtle populations
have been declining.
The species once occupied much of
the eastern third of Oklahoma, but black market meat harvesting, habitat
destruction and the pet trade have contributed to the turtles’ protected
status.
“Dammed rivers also cause
problems,” said Denise Thompson, a research associate at the hatchery and an
Oklahoma State University doctoral student. “The major current threat to the
survival of alligator snapping turtles in Oklahoma is unfavorable opinion. People
tend to think these turtles eat all of the fish, or that they are scary because
they are aggressive and dangerous. In reality, alligator snapping turtles are
very beneficial for keeping ecosystems balanced and maintaining healthy fish
populations and diversity.”
Some believe they’ve seen the
elusive — and sometimes massive — creature on a riverbank. The
species can live to be 100 years old, grow up to 250
pounds with a 3
1/2-foot shell and, like sea turtles, the alligator snapping turtle is almost
entirely aquatic and nocturnal. Misconceptions about the species’ behavior and
prevalence are a result of common misidentifications. Many mistake the
alligator snapping turtle for its much more aggressive cousin, the common
snapping turtle.
The size and archaic appearance
of the alligator snapping turtle is unique, but there is another significant
marker: a linguistic lure, or tissue inside the mouth that looks and moves like
a worm to attract food.
“They’re the largest species of
freshwater turtle in North America, and the only species in the world that
possesses a lingual lure,” Thompson said. “When I see these animals, I think
about all of the changes they have witnessed take place on this planet.”
Thompson collects and evaluates
data from 40 adult turtles in the hatchery’s breeding program. Her goal is to
maximize reproduction while minimizing the loss of genetic diversity. Through
tracking systems, she monitors individual behavior, position, proximity and
movement, and how those factors affect reproduction. Whether or not the species
successfully reintegrates into big rivers, marshes, and creeks will hinge on
Thompson’s and the program’s ability to maintain genetic diversity within the
relatively small breeding population.
Once the females lay a clutch in
spring, Thompson and other hatchery staff and interns collect the eggs to be
incubated in controlled temperatures, allowing them to determine gender.
Hatchlings are then reared for several years at the hatchery before being
reintroduced into rivers in Illinois, Louisiana, and Oklahoma.
Today, the Tishomingo Fish
Hatchery houses 1,500 alligator snapping turtles, Simmons said.
“We’ve had some years to go
through the culture techniques and get some things refined, and now we need to
produce,” Simmons said. “We want to talk to people, educate them about the
differences, the plight of the snapping turtle and hopefully our efforts to
help repopulate.”
So far, some of the program’s
turtles have been tagged, stocked in the Caney River and Pond Creek in
northeastern Oklahoma, and later re-caught and measured for size and weight.
Compared to turtles kept captive, the wild-raised stock were larger. The data suggest that habitats
still support the species with plenty of food and space to go around.
According to Simmons, the best
way the average person can help save the species is to fish responsibly, enjoy
water without leaving behind waste, and become educated about the breed’s
biology.
“We are trying to put them back
in their rightful place — the rivers.”
Posts
