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JUL-24-SB 15.4B FROM.M.B.S,S. FISHKILL Continued from Page 1A the rare fISh while enabling some ','ater development in the San Juan Basin to move forward. San Juan RIP biologists have been overseeing the stocking pro- gram and ....re partly responsible for this month's IOS$, program offi- cials sold. "It has injured their credibility: said Steve Harris. president of the Anim....La Plata Water ConServan. cy District. "They are supposed to recover the fish and they can't even stock tbem. 'We have lost a year of fish recovery at the expense of water development and it is because of their own screw-up.. But while admitting that the squa"flSh loss at the fish hatchery is a blow to the restocking and research effort, recover}' prognm officials say success over the past two vem has offset the setback, "it is a big loss to the prognm. but it ean be made up: said Jen- nifer Fowler-Propst. chief of the U.S. Fish and INildllfe Serviee's eCO- logical sel"';ces office in Albu- querque. "If '~e miss a year wc still have the twO pl'e'ioU$ years. It is very unfortunate, but we ""ill recover.'" Fowler-Propst said Friday that she had nOl beard of the loss until contacted by the Durango HfJ'ald. Hamman said 114,500 sqWl"flSh "."re released from the hatchery to the Utah Dh1sion of Wildlife in 1996 and 1\;,000 were released in 199; - the first two years the squaw- fish were spa""ed for San Juan Stocking purposes under the recov. ery program. This year, 30.000 left the fish hatchery aH"e, but about 20.000 . died en mllte to the stocking site in j, Utah. The percentage thar sUl"ived after being relea.led imo the San Juan is' not kno"". though Fowler- \~., ...' Propst said spot samples have shown mat !he squawfish are doing much better in the wild than pre-.i- ouslyexpected. "We bave been thrilled wi th their response; Fowler-Propst said, "It has been a great success.. In all three years. the fish were marked with tetracycline - an antibiotic that stains the skeleton of the fish - to allow biologists to track and observe how the fish are recov- ering in the "ild. The process basi- cally invoh'es letting the squawfish swim around in a bath of the tetra- cycline solution, administered each year at the batchery by biologists from the Utab Division of Wildlife. Hamman said every year a large number of the fLSb perish in the solution. though never as many as thi.. year. In the past. the loss has been made up "ith an overage of squaw- fish that had spawned above the amount ordered. But this year, he said, the hatch was much smaller than in pr.-ious yeats and the loss could not be made up. "One of the problems is that we haven't been culturing these fISh for the !a..t hundred years like we have been with trout: said Leo Lentsch, native species coordinator for the Utah Di-.ision of Wildlife. "There has been a lot of trial and error that has occurred over that time. "Squawtish (fanning) has been around for only about 15 years and tbm makes a big difference." In 1989, for example. 135,000 squawfish being bred at the Dexter hatchery died after being fed the "Tong food during a study. Those fish were not bound for the San Juan River, though, and were not pan of the recovery program. Scientists "ith San Juan RIP said impacts of the latest loss are diffi. cult to assess. AnnuaiIy. the federal"funded 10.S70 247 BB27 r-~ reco'-.ry program spends $64,650 at the Dexter FISh Hatchery on the squawfish, ,Hamman said. Most of that cost goes toward maintai~J;1g three different dasses of squa"iish brood stock - the adults at the hatchery that produce the eggs.' , The young squawfish - measu;r- ing Jess than an inch - spent abo'!t a month at the hatchery this yC!Jr before being curned over to ,me Utah Division of Wildlife biologis~., "It hasn't cost much to r~i$e them: Fowler-Propst said. -On tile other hand. they're an endanger~d species and it is hard to put a price tag on that." " Lentsch said the loss will be felt more in research rather than in the pocketbook or in th~ species recov' ery effort. "On the research end it certain: !\. sets us back," he said. "We are not going to get the same level of infor- mation we have gotten over the past twO years. "But in tenns of creating adults that may spawn and establish a pop- ulation in the wild. it is difficult to say. .., Ifs notjU$t black and whiu:." Regardless, Randy KirkpatriCk, executive director of the San Juan Water Commission in Fannington, said the foul-up does slow do"" "- however little - the recoverv of ille rare fish and thus furtbe~ delays water development in the San Juan &sin. including the Nav~o ,Indilin Irrigation Project and A-LP, ' , But even more so, he said, it speaks volumes about the agencies involved in the recovery process. -n,is shows the scientists are not as careful as we would like to see them handle the fl$h: Kirkpatrick said, "I am disappointed they were not more careful and I would hope in the future thev ,,'ould be. "This could ~suJt in some level of delay. It dela}~ soiling and recov- ering to"ese rare fisb ',hieb I believc i.. the goal of all of us." PAGE 3/3