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telemetry tagged sturgeon's location. This allows us to determine their association with other fish <br />species. All fish captured in each seine haul are identified, and enumerated. Large individuals of <br />easily identifiable species are released at the site of capture. Small specimens and difficult to <br />identify species are fixed in 10% formalin and returned to the lab for identification, enumeration <br />and cataloging. These specimens are being placed in the Nebraska State Museum for future <br />study. <br />Food habits of shovelnose sturgeon, are being studied by examination of their stomach <br />contents using pulsed gastric lavage or dissection. To attempt to build a more complete picture <br />of potential sturgeon habitat in the Platte River we are also sampling locations with similar <br />appearing conditions, which have no known sturgeon present using gill nets, seines, and trawls. <br />These collections will be used to evaluate concordance of habitat conditions with potential food <br />sources. Habitat use and preference criteria will be developed from this data set following <br />methods recommended by Bovee (1986), Yu (1996),Yu, et al. (1995) and Yu and Peters (1997). <br />Preference will be determined by evaluating use in relation to availability of each habitat <br />parameter. Availability of habitat are being estimated from PHABSIM calculations on data <br />collected by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. <br />ACCOMPLISHMENTS <br />STURGEON R,4 D IO TE L E ME T R Y <br />During 2000, 13 shovelnose sturgeon were implanted with radio transmitters. Three of <br />these fish (41, 61, and 12 1) expelled their transmitters within four weeks of the surgery (Table <br />1.1). The disappearance of fish 581 is attributed to movement into the Missouri River or a <br />W <br />