Three renovated Mississippi lakes have been restocked with fish in a long-term research program to track the nation's water quality. In the Mississippi Delta Management Systems Evaluation Area project, ARS scientists are obtaining new information on controlling detrimental environmental effects of sediment, fertilizer and pesticides from farmland.
Sediment is a prime factor limiting fish production.
It will take several years, however, to measure comprehensively how farm practices affect water quality and fish populations. The information will be used to develop educational and public awareness programs. ARS scientists worked with the Mississippi Department of Wildlife Fisheries and Parks to restock the lakes with bluegill and redear sunfish fingerlings and channel catfish in fall 1996 and with bass in spring 1997. That's because the residue eventually boosts the soil's organic matter. An ARS study has shown that landscape position and soil organic carbon content greatly influence the amount of atrazine absorbed by the soil.