SEAFWA 2018

AUTHORS: Brena Jones, NC Wildlife Resources Commission; Tim Savidge, Three Oaks Engineering

ABSTRACT: Given the extreme limitations on the quantity and availability of conservation funds, it is critical that decision-makers have data that are both as current and as accurate as possible, in order to prioritize where and how investments are made. When dealing with cryptic endemic species, this is often complicated by sparse or scattered datasets. A case in point is the Carolina Pygmy Sunfish (Elassoma boehlkei), one of 374 species under review by the US Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS). These small fish are endemic to blackwater ditches and streams in the Lumber and Santee drainages of North and South Carolina’s Coastal Plain. When petitioned for listing, there were no recent, comprehensive survey data across the species’ range. The NC Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC) conducted targeted surveys at 81 sites in the Waccamaw River sub-basin in NC from 2014-2015. In 2018, Three Oaks Engineering surveyed an additional 70 sites, predominantly in SC. Over half of the detections in NC were previously unrecorded localities, two sites representing new tributary populations. Two more new tributary sites were discovered in the Wateree sub-basin in SC. Local densities are variable, but results suggest the species persists successfully, migrating with flow between connected suitable habitats. Further analysis of recently-collected SC data is ongoing, including expansion of detection/occupancy probability modeling begun in NC. These findings will inform both the federal status review and conservation and management decisions in both states.