Lakes and Ponds - Long-Term Fish Monitoring

These data show the results from analyses on data from the Long Term Fish Monitoring Program at FWC for 2017/2018.

Long-Term Fish Monitoring is an ecological indicator for the Landscape Conservation Project for Florida. The project entails a large-scale assessment of and planning for the health of important natural resources, known as Conservation Assets (CAs), in Florida. Conservation planning at the landscape scale provides a framework for safeguarding functional ecosystems, and their interconnected processes necessary to achieve true preservation of healthy resources. Spatially explicit data from the project informs coordination and prioritization for making conservation decisions. And a suite of ecological indicators was carefully selected for each CA to represent important characteristics of each Asset and offers metrics that serve to evaluate current status, monitor trends over time, and guide conservation activities with clear measures of effectiveness of the outcomes. Results are shared routinely on the Florida Conservation Planning Atlas website (www.floridacpa.com) and periodically in a summary report card that will be available for managers and the wider public.

The Monitoring program samples fish in a number of lakes as part of this long-term monitoring program. The number of lakes included in the program has changed over time but is currently approximately 30. Sampling methods vary with season to optimize capture of important fish species. Fish are identified to species and biomass recorded. Data are analyzed annually by FWC, and summaries are provided to the legislature. Overall results relate total biomass changes year over year. Increases greater than 25% more than the previous year are considered 'improving' and declines greater than 25% are declining. If total biomass is within a plus or minus 25% range, the lake is considered to be maintaining productivity.

Results of the final results for 2017/2018 are shown for named lakes in Florida. Results are symbolized by classifications: improving, declining, or maintaining.