Caddo Lake Paddlefish Release

USFW, in partnership with Caddo Lake Institute releases 10,000 baby American Paddlefish into Caddo Lake. Shreveport Aquarium is also actively rearing and reintroducing the American Paddlefish into areas where it has locally gone extinct. By raising some of this freshwater species onsite, the public can see and learn about them before the annual release into Caddo Lake. Although once common in Caddo Lake, the 300 million year old species had completely disappeared from the lake in the 70s. Elsewhere, American Paddlefish populations have declined dramatically, primarily because of overfishing, habitat destruction, dam building and pollution.