Project: Evaluation of Increased Survival of Young-of-the-Year Wild Rainbow Trout in the Upper Madison River in the Face of Increased Whirling Disease Infection Intensities in Wild Rainbow Trout Spawning Areas

Primary Investigator: Patrick Clancey
Project Summary: Whirling disease remains a serious problem in the Madison River of Montana. From the disease's onset in 1990, the recruitment of young wild rainbow trout into the fish population of the upper Madison River has been seriously compromised. The goals of this project are to: (1) determine if existing wild rainbow trout in the Madison River are beginning to develop some resistance to severe infections by M. cerebralis; (2) determine if the wild rainbow trout resident to the upper Madison River has changed their primary spawning, hatching, and rearing sites from the sites utilized in 1998-99; (3) determine if the wild rainbow trout resident to the upper Madison River are spawning at a earlier or later time period than found in 1998-99, when the potential for high infection rates of hatching and emerging young rainbow are less likely to occur; and (4) determine if there has been a change in the rate or level of infection of Tubifex tubifex worm populations in various side channels that were heavily utilized by spawning rainbow trout in the late 1990s.
Funding Period: 2004-2005
Final Report: Clancey Kerans 2004-2005.pdf
Dataset(s) associated with this project:

There are no datasets associated with this project.