Fisheries Management in the Mississippi River Basin

by Brian Schoenung | May 1, 2025 | Aquatic Organisms

A bright blue partly cloudy sky overhead is reflected in the large Mississippi river below. Small islands with trees and vegetation are in the foreground. In the background, limestone bluffs are framed by green vegetation.

The Mississippi River in Illinois. Photo by Carol M. Highsmith, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

The State of Illinois is bordered on three sides by rivers, connecting the state to the upper Mississippi River Basin, the lower Mississippi River basin and the Ohio River basin. Additionally, the Illinois River runs through the heart of the state and connects the vast Mississippi River basin to Lake Michigan.

A series of locks and dams modified these river corridors to accommodate navigation and barge traffic, creating a conduit for moving everything from grain to gravel to steel to petro-products. The Mississippi River Basin is the fourth largest watershed in the world and the largest in the nation. The watershed drains all or part of 31 states and 2 Canadian provinces. The Basin covers more than 1.2 million square miles or approximately 41 percent of the continental U.S. and has nearly 1.5 million miles of waterways. There are at least 98 interjurisdictional rivers in the Basin that flow between or through two or more governmental agencies. It is estimated that 500 million tons of cargo move throughout the basin annually. The state of Illinois sits right in the middle of this basin as well as providing a direct conduit to Lake Michigan through the Illinois waterway.

Barges maneuver the Mississippi river near Alton, IL. In the background is a bridge going over the river, and the buildings of Alton meet the river on the shoreline. — Barges preparing to lock through at Melvin Price Locks and Dam in Alton. Photo courtesy of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Beyond its economic and commerce importance, the Mississippi River basin and more specifically the rivers bordering and running through the state of Illinois provide tremendous recreational and angling opportunities. The Basin supports vibrant and diverse sport and commercial fisheries. Economic output from recreational fishing in the Basin in 2011 exceeded $19 billion (USFWS unpublished data). Habitat degradation, invasive species and the multiplicity of aquatic management authorities complicate and threaten the supply and utilization of these stocks. Fish species that move between management jurisdictions (i.e., interjurisdictional species) create complex resource management problems related to regulation development, licensing, enforcement and establishment of management objectives. There are at least 90 fish species in the Mississippi River Basin that can come under interjurisdictional management.

Role of the Mississippi Interstate Cooperative Resource Association

The only current fully collaborative approach to management of aquatic invasive species (including invasive carp) and interjurisdictional fisheries issues in the Mississippi River Basin is through the Mississippi Interstate Cooperative Resource Association (MICRA). MICRA is an organization of 28 state natural resources management agencies with fisheries management jurisdiction in the Mississippi River Basin. Organized in 1991, MICRA is a partnership to improve management of interjurisdictional fish and other aquatic resources within the basin. Federal agencies and federally chartered entities that manage and regulate Mississippi River Basin resources across states also participate in the MICRA partnership.

A group of men and one woman wearing suits stand in a group behind one man seated at a desk. In the background are two cabinets partly obscured by the group of people. — Photo courtesy of the author.

My role with MICRA began approximately 20 years ago, as the Ohio River Basin representative to the MICRA executive board. The executive board is composed of a representative (usually an agency fish chief) from each of the six Mississippi River sub-basins, a representative from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the U.S. Geological Survey and the Tennessee Valley Authority. The executive board, under leadership of an elected chairperson, and an indispensable USFWS federal coordinator, conduct the business of the partnership. MICRA’s work is supported by modest dues paid by state and federal agency members.

MICRA has been an active and successful forum for interagency coordination and collaboration to address fisheries issues in the Basin, but lacks the resources to plan, implement and evaluate cooperative inter-agency management actions to achieve shared fisheries management goals. MICRA and its member entities (including the federal agencies) recognize the need to move beyond coordination and communication to a cooperative and structured approach for inter-agency planning, implementation and evaluation of management actions to achieve collaboratively established management objectives for shared interjurisdictional fishery resources and invasive species challenges in the Basin.

Meeting Objectives Through the Mississippi River Basin Fishery Commission

At night a group of men and one woman wearing suits stand in front of the Capital building in Washington, DC. — A delegation of MICRA representatives in Washington D.C. Photo courtesy of the author.

The best way to achieve the foundational objectives of MICRA is through the formation of a Mississippi River Basin Fishery Commission. A fishery commission will provide a formal structure for the responsible management agencies within the Mississippi River Basin that provides for increased interagency, interstate and interbasin coordination and collaboration on invasive carp and aquatic invasive species management and control as well as interjurisdictional fish management.

To that end, a delegation of MICRA representatives has been traveling to Washington D.C. the last several years to raise awareness of the need for a Mississippi River Basin Fisheries Commission. This year those efforts finally bore fruit through new legislation introduced in the House of Representatives (HB1514) and the U.S. Senate (S.1078) establishing a Mississippi River Basin Fisheries Commission. While there is still a long road ahead to ultimately get these bills passed and a commission established, the introduction of legislation marks a major turning point in the process.

Brian Schoenung is the Aquatic Nuisance Species Program Manager for the state of Illinois. Prior experience includes his role as an Asian Carp specialist and chief of fisheries with Indiana. Schoenung served as Ohio River Fisheries Management Team representative to the Mississippi Interstate Cooperative Resource Association (MICRA), served as Chair of MICRA and currently immediate past chair. He is co-chairing the recently reformulated MICRA Invasive Carp Advisory Committee. Schoenung’s background has been heavily focused on the carp side of invasive species.