Efficiency and Selectivity of 
Commercial Fishing Devices 
Used on the Mississippi River* 
made of the Mississippi River between 
Caruthersville, Missouri, and Du- 
buque, Iowa, under the auspices of the 
Technical Committee for Fisheries, a sub- 
group of the Upper Mississippi River 
Conservation Committee. Collections of 
fish were made with various types of 
fishing devices at 31 field stations. Based 
largely on these collections, a report rela- 
tive to the status of commercial and sport 
fishing in the Caruthersville-Dubuque 
section of the river was written and pub- 
lished (Barnickol & Starrett 1951). 
The present paper is a statistical analy- 
sis of the catch data relative to the efh- 
ciency and selectivity of the various com- 
mercial fishing devices used during the 
survey. It is believed that such an analysis 
could be of value to persons interested in 
the management of the river’s commercial 
fishery. At the present time, law enforce- 
ment is the chief form of fish management 
practiced in the Caruthersville-Dubuque 
section of the river. 
The fishery survey was financed by the 
Illinois Department of Conservation, the 
Illinois Natural History Survey, the Iowa 
Conservation Commission, and the Mis- 
souri Conservation Commission. The IIli- 
nois Natural History Survey’s laboratory 
boat, the 4nax, was used as field head- 
quarters. 
The writers are indebted to Dr. George 
W. Bennett of the Illinois Natural His- 
tory Survey for suggestions and encour- 
I: 1944 and 1946, a fishery survey was 
* The investigation on which this paper is based was 
conducted under the auspices of the Technical Committee 
for Fisheries of the Upper Mississippi River Conservation 
Committee. 
7 Aquatic Biologist, Illinois Natural History Survey. 
= Formerly Ichthyologist, Illinois Natural History 
Survey, now Chief Biologist of the Fisheries Section of 
the Missouri Conservation Commission. 
WAL EL EBA My, iC 
STARRETTTtH 
PAUL G BARNICKOL: 
agement in the preparation of this paper 
and to Dr. Robert Touchberry of the 
University of Illinois for technical advice 
in the statistical treatment of the data. 
The following persons, at the time asso- 
ciated with the Illinois Natural History 
Survey, aided in the collection of data: 
Mr. Daniel Avery, Mr. Leonard Dur- 
ham, Dr. B. Vincent Hall, Dr. Donald 
F. Hansen, Mr. Don W. Kelley, Mr. 
Jacob Lemm, Dr. Hurst H. Shoemaker, 
and Dr. David H. Thompson. Mr. James 
S. Ayars of the Illinois Natural History 
Survey edited the manuscript. Many 
other persons contributed directly in mak- 
ing this investigation possible through 
their administrative assistance, notably 
Dr. Harlow B. Mills, present Chief, and 
the late Dr. Theodore H. Frison, for- 
mer Chief, of the Illinois Natural History 
Survey; Dr. G. B. Herndon of the Mis- 
souri Conservation Commission; Mr. 
Sam A. Parr of the Illinois Department 
of Conservation; and Mr. Everett B. 
Speaker and the late William E. Albert 
of the Iowa Conservation Commission. 
Photographs other than that for fig. 10 
were taken by Natural History Survey 
staff photographers William E. Clark and 
Charles L. Scott and by the senior author 
of this paper. 
Materials and Methods 
In 1944, fish collections were made at 
19 field stations on the Mississippi River 
between Caruthersville, Missouri, and 
Warsaw, Illinois, and, in 1946, at 12 field 
stations on the river between Burlington, 
Iowa, and Dubuque, Iowa, fig. 1. Table 
1 contains a list of the field stations, in- 
clusive dates of fishing operations at each 
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