Electrofishing is a real stunner.

The angling technique is a safe, efficient way to deal with unwanted, invasive species, to remove fish for construction or other purposes, or to conduct species counts and evaluations.

It relies on electrodes to deliver direct current at high-voltage through water. Electricity stuns fish, causing involuntary muscle contractions that immobilize for short periods of time.

Fish roll to the surface and can then be netted for various purposes, including fish studies and species control methods. Different fish species require different electric frequencies; catfish, for example, require lower frequencies than do other species.

Larger fish are generally more affected than smaller. The fish are unharmed by the electrical stun. Humans are also susceptible to electrofishing — falling into water could cause fatal heart fibrillation.

Bryan Farquhar of Magnolia Fisheries in North Texas has been utilizing electrofishing for more than a quarter-century.

“We electrofish for residential homeowner associations, ranch owners, fishing clubs and entities performing pond/lake drainings for dredging or construction projects,” Farquhar told Kinute. “The primary reason for electrofishing is to perform a comprehensive survey of the fish population. We collect data such as species diversity, density estimates, body condition information, and age/growth data. This allows us to make recommendations on improving the fishery. The main goal of most of our clients is producing trophy bass angling and requires electrofishing a minimum of every two years.”

Bryan Farquhar with a pair of trophy bass captured during an electrofishing survey on a ranch in Godley, Texas, in November 2020. Photo courtesy Magnolia Fisheries

He said there are many rewards to his work, including providing customers with a greatly improved body of water.

“The best part is being able to help lake owners improve the quality of angling in their lakes,” Farquhar said. “When they send me photos of the results of our management (notably large bass), it justifies the detail that I put into the work and recommendations to get them to that point. Always makes me feel good to see a smiling client holding a big, fat bass!”

There are some challenging sides to it as well.

“The worst part is being out in the elements most of the day, whether it be controlling algae in the 100-plus days of summer or delivering fish in an ice storm,” he said.

Farquhar well remembers the most difficult day he had on the job.

“It was a complete fish removal and relocation on a stretch of a large river. It was inaccessible by truck and they had to use a sky crane to lift our boat over large trees and into the river 30 feet below,” he said. “Once the fish were collected, we had to place them in a large tub which was lifted out of the river bed, over the trees, and into our fish hauling truck for relocation in a public reservoir.”

A crane lifts an electrofishing boat over a concrete retaining wall in Flower Mound, Texas, in October 2021. Photo courtesy Magnolia Fisheries

Farquhar said it’s a safe and humane technique and there has been no criticism or protests about its use.

“In 27 years, I have never experienced negative pushback for electrofishing,” he said. “However, we are typically working in areas where the client is aware of the process. Working in residential communities always draws a crowd; however, none of them have ever reacted in a negative manner.”

One way to avoid bad publicity is to do the job precisely. That’s something Farquhar insists upon.

“Electrofishing will not harm anything when the voltage/amperage is set accordingly. We use a highly specialized control box that allows us to manipulate the output and waveform of the current applied to the water,” he said. “We use the minimum settings required to temporarily stun the fish long enough for us to dip them up. The fish are usually fully recovered by the time we place them in our aerated livewell (less than a minute). Turtles are very resistant to electrofishing equipment, usually showing no effects at all. And aquatic insects are too small to be affected by the current.

“However, the equipment will temporarily stun frogs and snakes if they enter the electric field. But this is very rare because only fish are attracted to the electric field. Frogs and snakes will move away from the field.”

Magnolia Fisheries biologist Zach Taggart takes length measurements on a largemouth bass in October 2020 in Alba, Texas. Photo courtesy Magnolia Fisheries

Farquhar said he has never been shocked. Safety is a priority.

“No. Industry standard electrofishing equipment is equipped with several safety measures to prevent this,” he said.

Electrofishing utilizes three basic models: backpack EF model, boat mounted or tote barge models.

EF works best in water temps above 70 degree and is only efficient in shallow freshwaters and tidal freshwaters. 

Saltwater is highly conductive; not conducive to electrofishing. Electrical field typically expands 5 to 7 feet in circumference from each anode and to depths of 6 to 7 feet.

A minimum of two people is required for an effective electrofishing crew: one to operate the anode, the other to catch the stunned fish with a dip net.

It’s a safe way to catch and release fish and to collect fish survey data such as fish populations, health condition, measurements and weights, tagging and species assessment.

It also can be used for species control. Electrofishing has proven effective in control of invasive or overpopulated species that replace or drive out other desirable fish in the competition for food and environmental resources.

A longear sunfish on a measuring board. The fish was taken in Fort Worth, Texas, in April 2021. Photo courtesy Magnolia Fisheries

The standard response to population control has been using toxic chemicals, which are problematic, since they kill native and invasive fish alike. They also kill many insects that fish eat.

Electrofishing stuns both native and invasive species, rendering them temporarily immobilized and making it easy to net out the invasive and undesired species and return the desirable species to the waters.

Electrofishing was used in four streams in Montana after an invasive fish species had quickly replaced the native cutthroat trout. Over the span of 13 years, EF was performed twice annually during spawning season and in winter, when fish tend to congregate.

An estimated 17,000 invasive trout were killed. Today the invasive fish are all but eradicated, without the use of pesticides and at a comparable cost. Results are documented in the North American Journal of Fisheries Management.

Like the use of explosives and poison, pulse fishing has been prohibited in the European Union since 1998 (with a few exceptions). China and several other countries have banned commercial use of the practice, citing biodiversity harms.

The Netherlands was the biggest user of pulse fishing in the EU until 2021, when it lost a lawsuit to overturn a ban.

In virtually the entire United States, electrofishing is not allowed in or on public or state-owned waters except by permit for population studies by authorized institutions. Electrofishing in the U.S. is allowed on private waters to eradicate introduced species or to perform population control.

A trophy-sized coppernose bluegill on a measuring board in Dumas, Texas, in May 2020. Photo courtesy Magnolia Fisheries

Since 1985, four counties in North Carolina allow electrofishing. Its exception is a holdover of a fishing method known as “telephoning.” Started in the 1950s with jury-rigged components of old crank-style telephones, electric current pulses through water and stuns fish, a practice encouraged in the hopes of reducing populations of invasive catfish.

Recreational use of the electrofishing in the U.S. can be considered poaching and civil and criminal penalties may apply. While it is against the law to use electrofishing as an angler, people do.

In 2018, two people were cited for using the technique on the Cahaba River in Dallas County, Alabama. They faced fines of between $500 and $2,000.

Electrofishing is actually a very small part Magnolia Fisheries, Farquhar said.

“Our day-to-day operations consist mainly of managing ponds/lakes for algae and noxious aquatic vegetation. These are mostly owned by HOAs, private landowners, and commercial entities,” he said. “Our crews manage around 1,600 ponds on a weekly basis during the March-November growing season. The range of size is 1/10th of an acre to 30-plus acres. We also offer several other services including fisheries management, habitat improvements, feeder sales/installations, mosquito abatement, water clarity management, nutrient mitigation, lake design consultations, bathymetric/sediment surveys and fish stocking.”

Performing an electrofishing survey in Flower Mound, Texas, in October 2021, Bryan Farquhar drives a boat as Magnolia Fisheries employees Alec Towner, in the front, Matt Manis, in the back, dip fish. Photo courtesy Magnolia Fisheries

Lone Star Fountains is a sister company.

“They are a full-service aeration/fountain company that installs and services decorative fountains and aeration systems to improve water quality,” Farquhar said. “Both companies operate out of the same office and have the same owner.”

Farquhar is a supervisor and senior aquatic biologist at Magnolia Fisheries. It’s a career he had planned early on.

“I have had a fascination with fish and lakes since I was a child, mainly brought about by fishing trips with my father,” he said. “I chose my college education based on the best universities for aquatics/fisheries management. I am one of the few who knew what I wanted to do before I even enrolled in college.”

He attended Texas State University, where he earned a bachelor of science degree in aquatic biology in 1992 and a master of science degree in aquatic biology and fisheries management in 1995, graduating magna cum laude.

Magnolia Fisheries’ Twitter feed offers a wry challenge to potential customers: "If you can’t think of more than three things you need to do for water, that’s a clue you need us."