Living in the Water

Living in the Water. . The Mississippi River has provided a habitat for many species of fish and other aquatic creatures for millions of years. Human modifications of the river have had both positive and negative effects on fish populations here. Many types of fish thrive in the oxygen-rich waters just below the dam, but backwater areas, which used to provide important breeding grounds, have disappeared. , Early Fishing Practices , For the Dakota and Ojibwe peoples who lived in the vicinity of the Mississippi, the river's fish provided an important food source that supplemented a primary diet of corn, beans, and squash. , Both the Dakota and the Ojibwe fished using hooks made of deer bone or native copper. Spears were used most often at night or during the winter months. , Fishing to Survive , Hastings native Floyd Atchison grew up in poverty during the 1930s. From an early age he relied on fish in the river as a source of both food and income. , As a young boy he sold minnows as bait. Later, he fished for anything he could catch, from bullheads to walleye. Whatever he could not sell became his family's dinner. , Carp and Bass , Now considered by many to be a nuisance fish, carp were deliberately introduced to the Mississippi River in the 1880s by the State Fish Commission. The commission hoped that the adaptable carp, prized in Europe and Asia, would enhance the native species of the river, which had become depleted from overfishing. , Native to the Mississippi River, smallmouth bass are particularly vulnerable to the effects of pollution. Both small and largemouth bass need adequate oxygen, room to spawn, and ample protective vegetation to survive and flourish.