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<br />adults. Although we offer a rough outline below, development of a captive broodstock <br />will by necessity need to be an adaptive management process. <br /> <br />An appropriate broodstock for humpback chub might entail holding up to several <br />thousand fish. Although a minimum of 50 to 500 genetically effective founding breeders <br />has been recommended in the past for brood stock development, genetics theory <br />indicates that these numbers are too low for maintaining quantitative variability (Lande <br />and Barrowclough 1987, Lynch et al. 1995, Lande 1995). For example, Lynch et al. <br />(1995) suggests maintaining long term population sizes> 1,000 in order to avoid <br />problems with mutation loads, and Lande (1995) suggested that the Franklin-Soule <br />number (Ne = 500) should be increased by a factor of ten, to Ne = 5,000. <br /> <br />A potential source of broodstock is the -80 humpback chub currently held at Willow <br />Beach NFH. During July 1998, -450 age-O humpback chub were removed the LCR, <br />and flown to Willow Beach NFH for use in temperature growth studies (Gorman and <br />VanHoosen 2000). About 80 of these fish remain. Although these fish came from the <br />LCR, they were never intended to form the nucleus of a breeding program. They were <br />all collected during a single day within a short reach of the LCR (10 to 12 km), and may <br />not fully reflect the genetic variability in the population as a whole. Developing the <br />genetic "fingerprint" of these fish and comparing it with reference samples from <br />throughout Grand Canyon would be absolutely necessary (see Appendix 1). <br /> <br />It has been suggested by some to remove the small mainstem aggregation of <br />humpback chub from the Fence Fault area (near river mile [RM] 30). This aggregation <br />is suspected of being a last remnant of the mainstem spawners in Grand Canyon, but <br />recruitment is likely absent (Valdez and Masslich 1999). Based on multiple mark- <br />recaptures, the small aggregate is thought to be comprised of about 50 adult fish <br />(Valdez and Masslich 1999). However, until genetic analyses indicate that these fish <br />are not distinct from LCR fish, these fish may have to be maintained as a separate <br />brood stock in order to avoid potentially swamping this presumed mainstem genotype <br />with the LCR genotype. It should also be mentioned that there has been documented <br />movement of fish between 30-mile and LCR, indicating that these fish are not totally <br />isolated. Without substantive genetic information, removal of fish from 30-mile may only <br />serve to needlessly extinguish this group of fish from the wild. An alternative to <br />capturing the last remaining adults at 30-mile might be collecting eggs or age-O from <br />this group of fish (B. Persons, Arizona Game and Fish Department). Post-larval <br />humpback chub have been captured at the spring at 30-mile (Valdez and Masslich <br />1999), but successful collection may require stabilization of flows from Glen Canyon <br />Dam during the months of June and July. <br /> <br />The strategy involved in using either the Willow Beach NFH or the 30-mile aggregation <br />as a starting point for developing a captive broodstock entails 1) determine the genetic <br />constitution of the original group(s) of captive fish 2) compare these respective small <br />captive populations with the respective genetic constitution of the wild population(s) in <br />the LCR or Grand Canyon, and 3) develop methodologies to ensure that the genetic <br />constitutions of the original captive fish come to equal those of the wild population(s). <br /> <br />18 <br />