Increasing human population and new technologies have led to rapid increases in recreation on lakes. Recreational demand for public freshwater lakes and reservoirs is increasing nationally and is especially high where there are few natural lakes, such as in the southern Appalachians.

The region contains nearly 870 square miles of reservoir water surface, mainly because of the large number of Tennessee Valley Authority impoundments (SAMAB 1996). Although most public reservoirs have been constructed for flood control or water supply, they are heavily used for activities such as fishing, boating, and swimming. Because these reservoirs and the adjacent public property may represent the only accessible public recreational land, additional uses such as hiking, picnicking, and aesthetics are also important.

The high demand for recreation along with the physical and ecological limits of the resource often force managers to place controls on several recreational uses, despite the ideal of free access and use of public waters. Damage to resources and conflicts among recreational uses are inevitable without the use of controls. Recreational use restrictions include:

• Speed limits on boats are among the most common use restrictions.
• Gasoline motors are often prohibited on small reservoirs within fish and wildlife areas to avoid disruption of nesting waterfowl or other animals.

• Swimming may be prohibited in reservoirs where there is no supervision or where poor water quality creates a health risk.

• Fishing seasons and limits are imposed to protect spawning fish, to manage fish populations, and to maintain a healthy fishery.

Reservoirs under intense recreational pressure can be spatially zoned to separate various uses (Engel 1989), especially where compatibility among uses is a concern. Zoning regulations should be posted at reservoir access points to inform users:

• Open-water areas can be reserved for motorboats and skiing.
• One or several shoreline areas can be designated for swimming.
• Shallow bays can be designated as quiet zones for fish or waterfowl habitat, where motors may be prohibited or limited to idle speed.

Time zoning can be established in small reservoirs where spatial zoning is not feasible (Engel 1989). For example, jet-skiing may be allowed only during certain hours near midday or on alternate days to reduce conflicts with fishing or quiet enjoyment of the reservoir.

Management of recreation on reservoirs is usually focused on two major activities: (1) boating and watersports, and (2) fishing.

Although restrictions on recreational use to some extent curtail personal freedoms we hold dear, certain limits on individual rights must be accepted to provide for the greater public good: protection of the resource. By understanding the physical and ecological limitations of reservoirs, and by considering the potential for conflict among reservoir uses, resource managers and recreation planners can more effectively manage multiple-use reservoirs (Jones 1996).

Mountain reservoirs provide spectacular settings for many watercraft-based activities, from sailing, houseboating, and canoeing to speedboating and water skiing. Scuba diving is also possible in deep, clear lakes. Fishing is another extremely popular activity, often associated with boating. The responsibility for regulating boating on waterways falls on state natural resource agencies in:

• Virginia
• West Virginia
• Tennessee
• North Carolina
• South Carolina
• Georgia
• Alabama

Water quality characteristics may also affect reservoir recreational uses.  Reservoirs with clear water and low algal productivity (oligotrophic) are appealing aesthetically and are preferred by many for swimming and other body contact activities. However, the reduced nutrient availability in such lakes tends to support fewer fish. Conversely, as nutrient and algal concentrations increase (eutrophic), transparency decreases and fish productivity increases. In sequence, more phosphorus leads to increased algal production, which leads to increased secondary production among invertebrates, which leads to increased fish biomass as their food sources become more abundant. Tradeoffs must be made: A clear, unproductive reservoir cannot support many fish, and a eutrophic reservoir that does support fish cannot provide the aesthetic enjoyment that many users demand (Jones 1996).

Constraints may also be placed on recreational uses on reservoirs constructed for particular purposes. Examples include:

• Gasoline motors may be prohibited on drinking water supply reservoirs to prevent contamination by gasoline products.
• Swimming may also be prohibited on water supply reservoirs to avoid bacterial contamination.
• Deliberate water level drawdowns for flood control storage or consumptive water uses can cause problems for boat launching, navigation, and beach use.

Effects of Physical and
Ecological Constraints (Columns)
on Recreation in Reservoirs (Rows).

Physical constraints may limit the potential for recreation on some reservoirs:

• Small size may make speedboating and associated activities hazardous.
• Small, sheltered lakes might likewise be unsuitable for sailboating due to wind shielding.
• Steep banks may be a safety hazard for swimmers.
• A shallow lake with extensive aquatic plant beds restricts the amount of open water available for boating, interferes with swimming, impedes fishing access and may promote stunted fish populations.

Ecological constraints include trophic status: oligotrophy (low algal productivity) or eutrophy (high algal productivity.

Reservoir fisheries are managed for the benefits derived by the public. In managing streams and rivers, consumptive uses by humans must be balanced by concerns about biological integrity. But reservoirs are artificial systems that have not been around long enough for adapted communities to evolve. Therefore, concerns about the biological integrity of reservoirs are largely replaced by concerns that food webs adequately support gamefish. A predator-prey balance must be maintained in the system that supplies predatory fishes with plenty of food, supporting a large harvestable population of healthy individuals. Although reservoir fisheries typically focus on nonsalmonid game species, the southern Appalachians also has some reservoirs with trout fisheries.

Of course, reservoir management must also take into account effects of impoundment on the river systems of which they are part. Impoundments modify flow and water quality.  Fishing must compete with other conflicting uses such as flood control, hydropower generation, water supply, and other recreational uses.

A reservoir has a great diversity of ecological components ranging longitudinally from riverine (like a river) to lacustrine (like a lake) and latitudinally from limnetic (deepwater) to littoral (shallows). Also, among reservoirs, there is a wide range of morphometric, operational, and biological characteristics. Given these complexities, reservoir fisheries management must draw from the disciplines of hydrology, limnology, fish biology, and sociology.

Modern management involves not only specific concerns about fish and their habitats but also considers economics, aesthetics, user attitudes and desires, and the interests of the general public (Krueger and Decker 1993).

Warmwater gamefishes most often sought by anglers are listed below. For more information on these fishes, click on the individual species.

• Largemouth bass
• Spotted bass
• Crappie
• Bluegill
• Striped bass
• White bass
• Chain pickerel
• Channel catfish
• Flathead catfish
• Blue catfish
• Bullhead spp.

Popular coolwater gamefishes are listed below. For more information on these fishes, click on the individual species.

• Walleye
• Smallmouth bass
• Muskellunge
• Northern pike
• Sauger
• Rock bass
• Yellow perch

Most reservoirs are managed for warm or cool water fisheries, not trout. Of the reservoirs that have trout, most are stocked. Others have incidental wild trout, usually because they were stocked in the past or because tributaries to the reservoir have trout.

(Table: Reservoirs in the Southern Appalachian Region Greater Than About 500 Acres (About 1 Square Mile) That Have Trout Populations.)

A management program involves application of a process to achieve goals related to a fishery. The fisheries management process has five steps:

The Fisheries Management Process

1. Choice of goals
2. Selection of objectives
3. Identification of problems
4. Implementation of actions
5. Evaluation of actions

The fisheries management process depends on an information base that contains knowledge about each component of the management environment. The management environment is the combination of ecological, political, economic, and sociocultural factors that influence the management process. Managers use and contribute to the information base as the steps are executed in proper order:

1. Goals provide statements about what fisheries programs are to achieve over the long-term. Generally, they involve maintenance of fish populations and habitat quality, and satisfaction of the angling public.
2. Objectives are measurable expected outcomes that reflect achievement of goals, and specify a date when achievement is expected.
3. Problem identification determines what factors lie in the way of achievement of goals and objectives.
4. Actions are the activities selected and implemented to overcome the problems.
5. Evaluation includes the measurement of the responses of the management environment to the actions implemented relative to the levels specified in the objectives.

Management programs may be revised based on assessment of the information obtained in the evaluation step. After completing the evaluation step, management then returns to the first step in the process -- to redefine goals, choose new objectives, identify new problems, and carry out alternative actions (Krueger and Decker 1993).

The defining feature of reservoirs is that they are recently impounded rivers or streams. Therefore, several factors influencing fisheries are consequences of the transformation from river to lake:

• extensive, dendritic shoreline with steep depth contours
• high water flow-through rate, turbidity, and sediment input, and
• riverine fishes are displaced. (Hayes and others 1993)

Reservoir fish communities may be diverse or simple, and year-class strength of dominant species is often erratic (Hayes and others 1993).

Several General Classes
of Management Problems

Management approaches generally focus on three areas that can be manipulated by resource agency personnel:

1. Peoples use of the resources can be regulated.
2. Fish populations can be introduced, enhanced through stocking, or thinned.
3. Habitat is maintained or altered to benefit fish by manipulation of both physical (e.g., aquatic plant management, constructing cover) and chemical (e.g., nutrient additions, phosphorus detergent bans, artificial aeration) aspects of the aquatic environment.

Several general classes of management problems that may occur in reservoirs, their putative causes, and suggested management remedies can be found in the figure that follows.

One of the ways managers can reduce pressure on fish populations is by modifying human behavior to reduce harvest. Fisheries management must incorporate the use of appropriate and effective regulations to protect and enhance a fishery for the sustained benefit of the users now and in the future. Regulations should have a strong scientific base, and used to meet specific objectives and established management goals.

Regulations consist of licensing users and may limit the place or time that fishing takes place, the number of fish taken (creel limits), or the size or age of harvested fish (size or slot limits).

State natural resource agencies are responsible for regulating fisheries in public waters, and provide information on fishing, advisories, and regulations governing each states waters. For additional information from these agencies, click on the state of interest.

• Virginia
• West Virginia
• Tennessee
• North Carolina
• South Carolina
• Georgia
• Alabama