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• SeetionII. Impacts of the Procedures for the stocking of non-native fish in the upper Colorado River basin on private landowners and the commercial aquaculture industry Recreational sport fishing is a 1 billion dollar per year industry in the state of Colorado. The upper Colorado River basin supports a substantial portion of this economy through the stocking and management of many nonnative species of sportfish. Nonnative fish species such as mosquitofish, white amur, and fathead minnows provide valuable biological fiinctions as pest control agents and bioassay organisms. The policy for the stocking ofnon-native fish in the upper Colorado River basin is required as part of the recovery implementation plan for endangered fishes. This policy when authorized will reduce the number of species and the total number of fishes stocked for recreational and aquatic management use in the upper basin. The majority of nonnative fish being stocked for these functional uses are supplied by the private aquaculture industry for use by private landowners. This portion of the evaluation is designed to identify impacts and recommend mitigation as it pertains to the private sector. Impacts to private Iandowners • • Elimination of stocking nonnative warmwater fish species below the 50 year floodplain will eliminate private warm water fisheries in most private ponds in designated critical habitat. • The procedures create substantial additional costs for private landowners. to comply. The cast of compliance (application, notification, evaluation, modification, permitting} may exceed the costs of actually stacking the fish even for Table 1 situations. • Elimination of all warmwater nonnative fish stocking at or below the 50 year floodplain represents a total elimination of recreational fishery production potential for those private landowners that have little or no Coldwater fishery habitat. • Elimination of recreational fisheries value impact land value of private land in a recreation/tourismbosed economy like Colorado's. The procedures inhibit and eliminate the opportunity of private landowners to participate in Colorado's estimated $300 million private angling economy. It is conceivable that losses may be large enough to represent a constitutional "taking of private land without just compensation" as defined by existing state and federal statutes. • Fisheries value results in private landowner interest in maintenance of water quality and conditions conducive to fisheries. Reduced value will result in reduced investment in water management by private landowners. 2