Purpose and Accomplishments
The partnership encompasses the entire 981 miles of the Ohio River mainstem (the second largest river in the U.S. as measured by annual discharge) and 143,550 square miles of the watershed. The Ohio River drainage contains at least 350 species of fish ranging from endemic darters and dace in the headwaters to a suite of great river fish (e.g., paddlefish, blue sucker, lake sturgeon, and shovelnose sturgeon) and more than 120 mussel species, including a number that are federally listed. These figures approach half of the freshwater fishes and over a third of all mussel species found in the United States. A number of the rivers in the Ohio River Basin also support outstanding smallmouth or spotted bass angling.
Fish and mussel habitat within the Ohio River Basin is imperiled by a number of historic impacts and continuing threats including mineral extraction, row crop agriculture, and livestock grazing. It was within this context that a group of approximately 50 representatives from state and federal agencies, NGOs and universities within the Ohio River Basin initially coalesced into the candidate Ohio River Basin Fish Habitat Partnership.
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