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ABSTRACT-Knowledge of the uses made of salamanders by humans is important for conservation and management purposes. This investigation, conducted primarily within the Blue Ridge Mountain counties of Tennessee, reports on the use and selling of salamanders as fishing bait from May 2002 to June 2003. One of 75 bait, tackle, and marina businesses surveyed sold live salamanders. Selling prices ranged from $4.00-$7.00 per dozen. Lack of reliable suppliers, concern for endangered species, and the uncertainty about the legality of selling salamanders were given as reasons for businesses not selling salamanders. Of 321 fishermen surveyed, 6.5% reported using salamanders as bait during the time frame of this investigation. Most fishermen who used salamanders caught rather than purchased them.
Sold under the vernacular names "waterdogs," "waterlizards," and "spring-lizards," salamanders have been marketed to fishermen as bait. Etnier and Starnes (1993) listed salamanders as effective natural baits for black basses, Micropterus spp., and writers of popular bass fishing books tout the use of salamanders as bait as well (Circle, 2000; Weiss, 2001). A long history of using salamanders as bait in the Blue Ridge Mountains exists. In the early 1950s fishing with salamanders in the southern Appalachians was so popular that thousands were collected and some were even shipped to the Piedmont and Coastal Plain (Martof, 1953).
Most fishermen who use salamanders select stream and streamside species. Desmognathus are preferred; however, species of Eurycea and Gyrinophilus are also collected for bait. Some species of these genera existing in or near the Blue Ridge Physiographic Province of East Tennessee are of interest to conservation groups. Desmognathus aeneus Brown and Bishop (seepage salamander) and Eurycea junaluska Sever, Dundee, and Sullivan (Junaluska salamander) are listed as species "in need of management" by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (2002) and the Tennessee Natural Heritage Program (2001). Desmognathus quadramaculatus Holbrook (black-bellied salamander) is "watch-listed" by the Tennessee Natural Heritage Program (2001).
Salamander population declines, geographic range extensions, and hybridization due to fishing and bait trade activities have been documented. Redmond (1980) reported on the decline of local populations of Desmognathus welteri Barbour (Black Mountain dusky salamander) in Tennessee, suggesting that the species' distributional pattern may have been altered by fishermen. Martof (1953) and Camp (1989) discussed D. quadramaculatus introductions in Georgia...