Currently the only US state without harvest regulations for A. spatula is Louisiana, where the majority of commercial and recreational harvest occurs in the coastal region.
Hatchery produced juvenile alligator gar waiting for their next meal.
(USFWS) lists A. spatula as an interjurisdictional “Focal Species” and alligator gar are listed as “imperiled”, “vulnerable”, “critically imperiled”, or “extirpated” by most state natural resource agencies within the species’ historic range. In Mexico, the National Fisheries Institute describes alligator gar populations as “deteriorated” due to overfishing, although harvest is not regulated. The popularity of alligator gar as a sportfish for recreational angling has recently increased. Regulations on recreational and commercial harvests are set at the state level, with the exception of federal refuges that may impose additional restrictions. Many states enforce restrictions on bag limits, harvestable length and allowable gear, while other have established seasonal closures.
Restocking programs To restore alligator gar populations in Mexico and the US, restocking programs using hatchery produced fish were developed. Two Mexican aquaculture centers, Tancol near Tampico, Tamaulipas, and Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León (UANL) in Monterrey, produce alligator gar for research and restocking efforts. In the US, restocking efforts were started by the USFWS and now include federal, state, and university production facilities. In June 1998, the alligator gar production program at the USFWS Private John Allen National Fish Hatchery (NFH) in Tupelo, Mississippi, began as a regional priority to restore alligator gar populations and prevent listing under the Endangered Species Act. Since 1998, the Pvt. John Allen NFH and partners have developed and refined alligator gar collection, transport and culture techniques. Each year wild broodstock are collected from St. Catherine Creek National Wildlife Refuge near Natchez, Mississippi, spawned and returned to the refuge. The Pvt. John Allen NFH annually produces more than 65,000 fry and fingerlings for restoration stocking in Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Missouri, Kentucky and Illinois. Since 2008, the Alabama Department of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries (ADWFF) has produced and stocked approximately 200,000 larval and juvenile alligator gar into the Mobile Delta and Claiborne Lake on the Alabama River. As a result of increased agency interest in alligator gar culture and management and to facilitate the exchange of techniques and data, the International Network for Lepisosteid Fish Research and Management was formed in 2006 and the Alligator Gar Technical Com-
Alligator gar eggs attached to artificial spawning substrate.
mittee of the Southern Division of the American Fisheries Society was formed in 2009. Over the last two decades, Mexican researchers from UANL, in collaboration with colleagues from the US (Nicholls State University) and Cuba (Universidad de la Habana) have examined various aspects of gar biology, focusing on alligator gar, Cuban gar (A. tristoechus) and spotted gar (Lepisosteus oculatus). Topics of study include morphological, histological and molecular studies aimed at distinguishing different phases of development, as well as the nutritional condition of larval stages for the development of artificial feeds beginning with the earliest exogenously feeding stages. Additionally, results of endocrine based studies have been applied to enhance larval develop-
Habitat modification and loss have resulted in the decline of inland and coastal populations of alligator gar.
Aquaculture Magazine
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