I am an originally from Minot North Dakota and as a kid I grew up camping on Lake Sakakawea every weekend of the summer. If you didn't know much about Lake Sakakawea it is one of the biggest man made lakes in the United States and it came from the damming up of the great Missouri River, which means it has some of the best fishing around. The "Big Lake" which is most North Dakotan's nickname for Lake Sakakawea is known for its elite walleye and northern pike fisheries as this huge lake is said to be 178 miles long and covers around 1,500 miles of shoreline. With all of this shoreline and lake available the Big Lake has many boat ramps and recreational areas, which makes this a very popular place to go fishing or just hang out and enjoy the beauty North Dakota has to offer. Some of the fish species in Lake Sakakawea are chinook salmon, brown and rainbow trout, walleye, sauger, northern pike and many more. There are also two species of prehistoric fish which or native to the Missouri River which are the pallid sturgeon and the paddlefish, which there is a snagging season open for paddlefish in early may but the pallid sturgeon are endangered and are protected. The reason I am talking about these two prehistoric species is that possible seismic blasting going on under Lake Sakakawea could possibly be effecting the lifestyle of these prehistoric monsters, as an adult paddlefish can weigh over a hundred pounds. As many people might already know western North Dakota is currently in a major oil boom, which is also surrounding the borders of one of North Dakota's prize fisheries which is Lake Sakakawea. You might wonder how drilling could effect Lake Sakakawea but with the technology of horizontal drilling many drilling companies that have oil sites a few miles from the lake are probably using horizontal drilling to get to oil thats located thousand of feet under Lake Sakakawea. This is something you may also think would never have an affect on the lake but a recent study by Steve Krenz of the National Fish and Wildlife Service is currently starting a study which is supposed to show the effects that seismic blast will have on the fish in Lake Sakakawea. Since the palled sturgeon and paddlefish are both old and important fish to the Missouri River Steve has decided to use them to do the study, he will also use walleye since it is one of the most popular fish on the Missouri River. To do the test the fish have been tagged and will be dropped into specially designed cages as the seismic test blasts are done. To simulate the blast the biologists use compressed air shot through guns at the bottom of the lake which is said to produce up to 2,000 pounds of pressure. Then after the tests are done the fish will probably get released back into their natural habitats and and follow up sampling will probably occur often so they can continue to monitor the fish. If no instant result occur from these test this could end up being a very long study, especially if biologist want to determine if this changes any of their life history traits wether it's spawning, migration, or reproduction. Even if this study does take many years to get any information it will be very interesting to see how the oil could possible effect our prehistoric fish and more importantly to the fisherman of North Dakota, how will this effect the walleyes and sauger. Which if the results are bad it could easily put a big damper on oil production in North Dakota as walleye fishing on the big lake is probably one of the most important things on most residents minds that live in the western part of the state. For the most part I think in the long run it may change some of their lifestyle but it probably won't do anything to effect the population of the walleye sturgeon or paddlefish but you never know and thats why probably why they're doing a study, cause its always better to be safe than sorry especially when it involves something like Lake Sakakawea, which if something bad happened to this lake it could effect a lot of people.
That's interesting. I didn't know or understand that drilling could have an impact on fish species. The pallid sturgeon and the paddlefish are evolutionary ancient species which have been threatened or imperiled for quite some time. I'd really hate to see another thing such as oil drilling further hinder their populations in the Missouri system. Lake Sakakawea itself is a problem for both species. Both species are "big river' species which have evolved to live in large rivers. By damming the river and creating Lake Sakakawea, humans have inhibited their populations by blocking their ability to move up and downstream to spawning grounds. I hope that the study that the USFWS is doing can yield some results and maybe then we can draw some conclusions on oil drilling impact.
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