In Virginia and throughout the United States, interest in fish farming for profit or as a hobby has increased in the past few years. Encouraged by the success of trout farmers in western states and catfish farmers in southern states, prospective fish farmers question if similar opportunities exist in Virginia's fresh waters.

Nearly 300 species of mussels inhabit freshwater rivers, streams, and lakes in the United States. This is the richest diversity of mussels found in the world and an extraordinary natural heritage that needs protection.

two streams are alike, but many share certain problems and characteristics. For example, all streams are products of the land they drain, and their waters reflect streamside land management practices, good and poor. Much can be done to protect clean streams and restore damaged ones. Since most streams originate on private lands, their fate depends largely on wise management by streamside landowners. This publication provides general information and management guidelines to help stream property owners and their neighbors protect, improve, and restore these valuable running waters.

Aquatic plants growing in ponds and lakes are beneficial for fish and wildlife. They provide food, dissolved oxygen, and spawning and nesting habitat for fish and waterfowl.

At times landowners may be confronted with serious water losses resulting from the sudden collapse or gradual deterioration of earthen pond dams, irrigation canals, and drainage ditches. Although the loss of water from small earthen impoundments is frequently due to faulty construction, it may also be the result of undetected biological forces.

“Liming,” as the word suggests, is the addition of limestone (calcite), primarily calcium carbonate (CaCO3), to neutralize acid waters and soils and buffer them from rapid fluctuations in pH. Limestone typically is applied to lawns, gardens, pastures, and croplands to supply calcium, an essential plant nutrient, and to decrease soil acidity.

Aquatic biodiversity is the rich and wonderful variety of plants and animals—from crayfish to catfish, from mussels to mayflies, from tadpoles to trout—that live in watery habitats. It is the number of different native species, or species richness.

When a species goes extinct, all the genetic information carried by individuals of that species is lost forever, never to be reproduced again. Extinction is a terrible waste of life and a loss of potential solutions to future problems such as possible cures to disease and solutions for survival in a changing world.

Nearly 300 species of mussels inhabit freshwater rivers, streams, and lakes in the United States. This is the richest diversity of mussels found in the world and an extraordinary natural heritage that needs protection. Because of the lustrous, pearl-like interior of the shells,

Nearly 800 native fish species in 36 families inhabit the freshwater rivers, streams, and lakes of the United States and Canada. North America has the most diverse temperate freshwater fish fauna in the world.

Natural springs are important aquatic resources. They are a reliable source of clean, high-quality groundwater that flows at a relatively constant rate and temperature.

Inland lakes constitute one of our greatest natural resources. They are immensely popular features, particularly as recreational community developments.

Fee-fishing, or pay-fishing as the name implies, is buying the right to fish in a private pond, lake, or stream. These are excellent places to practice your fishing skills and teach children the fine art of fishing.

The zebra mussel, a small freshwater shellfish native to Europe, is one of the newest invaders of U.S. waters. They are D-shaped in outline and average one-half inch in length-the size of your fingernail-but can grow to two inches during their five year lifespan.