Great Blue Heron Predation on Stocked Rainbow Trout in an Arkansas Tailwater Fishery

Fisheries managers seldom have adequate information to assess their stock losses to avian piscivores, which function as apex predators in many aquatic food webs. Our primary objective was to estimate the number of stocked rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss consumed by great blue herons Ardea herodias on the Bull Shoals and Norfork tailwaters of north-central Arkansas. Between November 2000 and December 2001, we periodically surveyed great blue herons along 150.7 river km on the tailwaters of the Bull Shoals and Norfork dams. Heron density (number/km) in or along the river ranged from 0 to 4/km per survey, with the highest mean number located near the Bull Shoals Dam (2.31 herons/km). We recorded 467 prey captures by herons during 202 observation hours. Sculpin Cottus spp. were the most common prey (N = 120). Most prey (87%) measured 14 cm or less in length, and most captured live trout (85.4%) fell between 10.5 and 28.0 cm in length. While live trout represented only 48 of 359 identifiable prey items (13%), they comprised an estimated 62.8% of heron diet biomass. We developed a bioenergetics model that combined our observations with published metabolic coefficients and relationships to estimate heron energy demand during breeding and nonbreeding seasons. This analysis revealed that trout comprised an estimated 67% of heron daily energy demand in the study area. Heron daily energy demand peaked during the breeding season (March-May). Based on a mean monthly population estimate of 227 great blue herons requiring 156 million 0 of total energy/year, we calculated that herons consumed just under 50,000 catchable-sized stocked trout annually. This loss to great blue herons represents an estimated 2.4% of the approximately 2 million trout stocked in the study area. Thus, great blue heron predation likely represents only a minor source of trout mortality in the Bull Shoals and Norfork tailwaters.