For the past several years Dr. Kimmel and I have been investigating the fish communities of the Monongahela River and its tributaries.  This page summarizes some of our recent findings as well as reports and articles that we have published.

Tributary Collections (Summers 2003-04)

       Browns Run (left) and Little Whiteley Creek at the mouth (right)

Pumpkin Run near Rices Landing

Gillnetting Collections (summer 2005)

Gillnet full of carp and smallmouth buffalo

Some nice flathead catfish

Paddlefish captured near Bunola

Hybrid striped bass (17 lbs) near Masontown

Benthic Trawling Collections (summer 2006)

Trawling the river (left) and a sample of an unsorted collection (right)

You never know what you will find in the river

Channel darter (left) and silver chub (right)

Glass Shrimp captured in the Monongahela River, first of its kind

Juvenile Rock bass

Hexagenia hatch on the Monongahela River

Red-ear slider and soft shell turtle captured with our benthic trawl

REPORTS AND RESEARCH PAPERS

Argent, D. G., and W. G. Kimmel.  2005.  Efficiency and selectivity of gill nets for assessing fish community composition of large rivers.  The North American Journal of Fisheries Management  25:1315-1320.

Argent, D. G., and W. G. Kimmel.  2006.  Current status of paddlefish in Pennsylvania.  Final Report submitted to Rick Lorson, PA Fish and Boat Commission.

Argent, D. G., and W. G. Kimmel.  2006. Use of the coefficient of community loss (I) to assess cultural stresses on Monongahela River tributary fish communities.  Journal of Freshwater Ecology 21(4):681-686

Argent, D.G., and W.G. Kimmel.  2007.  Benthic fish community assessment of the Monongahela River.  Final Report submitted to the California University of Pennsylvania's Faculty Professional Development Center, California, PA.

Kimmel, W.G., and D.G. Argent.  2005.  Fish biodiversity of selected tributaries of the Monongahela River.  Final Report submitted to PA Game Commission, Contract #WM-6-02G-0062.

Kimmel, W. G., and D. G. Argent.  2005.  Efficacy of two pass electrofishing employing multiple units to assess stream fish species richness.  Fisheries Research  82:14-18.

Kimmel, W.G., and D.G. Argent. 2006.  Development and application of an Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI) for fish communities of wadeable Monongahela River tributaries.  Journal of Freshwater Ecology  21: 183-190.

Kimmel, W.G., and D.G. Argent.  2006.  Biodiversity of large riverine fish assemblages of the Monongahela River.  Final Report submitted to Wild Resources Conservation Program, for Grant Agreement WRCP-04019.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT TRAWLS VISIT: www.fishtrawls.com