Lake Panasoffkee SWIM Plan - Southwest Florida Water ...

Project Title:
Distribution
Fish Food Survey - Macroinvertebrate Diversity, Abundance and
Summary:
The Council’s Advisory Group noted what appears to be a scarcity of macroinvertebrates (a
group of animals without backbones that includes snails, clams and aquatic insects and
worms) in lake sediments and on much of the submersed vegetation. It is possible that
macroinvertebrate abundance should be low given the generally inorganic nature of the
sediments and the fact that submersed vegetation is typically encrusted or covered with
precipitated calcium carbonate. However, the lake is known or was known to produce a
quality redear sunfish fishery. Redear sunfish are specially adapted to feeding on snails and
mussels. It is also known that extensive deposits of unbroken snail shells can be found in
certain areas of the lake and, in fact, serve as bedding areas for these sunfish. The
occurrence of these snail shell deposits and the fact that these shells are unbroken are
evidence that snail production was high in Lake Panasoffkee. Only cursory examinations have
been made of the lake’s macroinvertebrates; there is a need to quantify the abundance,
diversity and distribution of macroinvertebrates in the lake since macroinvertebrates are a
significant source of food for fish.
Agency or Local Government Partnering:
The District intends to contract with the FWCC and/or the University of Florida to conduct this
study.
Project Title: Fish Community Survey - Analysis of Fish Community Structure
Summary:
Although creel censuses have been conducted on the lake a number of times (a creel census
is currently ongoing), such data does not give complete insight into fish populations in the
lake, especially nongame species. Electrofishing does provide additional information;
however, other techniques could provide more complete information relativeto fish abundance
(such as number of fish per surface acre). Unfortunately techniques such as block netting
are not often nor routinely applied due to the considerable man power and other resources
required. Given that much of the restoration effort is directed at fish habitat improvement and
given the economic resources requested, it will be incumbent upon the agencies involved to
demonstrate the expected improvement in the lake’s sport fishery and overall fish community
structure that result from the proposed restoration activities. It is expected that such data
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