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<br />Impacts to the Private Aquaculture Industry <br /> <br />General Impacts: <br /> <br />. Review of 50 and 100 year floodplain delineation maps completed by the Colorado Water <br />Conservation Board for specific areas of critical habitat indicate there is little difference in <br />the land area contained in these two delineations. Most standing water habitat historically <br />stocked by private landowners with nonnative warmwater fish products from private <br />aquaculture lie within these west slope floodplain zones. <br /> <br />. The procedures require assurances that criteria are met before a stocking can occur. <br />Attainment, communication, and implementation of this approval process will require <br />resources of the Colorado Division of Wildlife. CDOW participation and prioritization will <br />be commensurate with their ability to support such a program. Program support does not <br />presently exist. Fiscal and staffing constraints will require private sector stocking <br />requests be given a low priority for evaluation. Failure to act by decision making agencies <br />due to these priorities will effectively eliminate fish sales even though the procedures may <br />allow it. <br /> <br />. Voluntary compliance is the only way these procedures will be effective. The complexity <br />of the procedures represents a significant hurdle to overcome in general sales situations. It <br />will reduce the appeal of private sector aquaculture products by making their legal use <br />difficult to understand. <br /> <br />Market Impacts: <br /> <br />. The Colorado West Slope represents a rapidly expanding market for nonnative warmwater <br />fish stocking. Private warmwater aquaculture product sales realized in 1995 by two of the <br />largest suppliers of warm water fish are three times that of a decade ago. The procedures <br />impact 38% of the historic west slope nonnative warmwater fish sales made by the private <br />aquaculture industry based on application of the procedures in designated critical habitat. <br />Implementation of the 6500 msl criteria increases the impact to 58% of the historic <br />customer base. (Source: Colorado Department of Agriculture survey of fish suppliers <br />completed in 1994) <br /> <br />. The procedures establish a review process for all stocking proposals that is untenable for <br />the normal conduct of private aquaculture commerce. This process will effectively <br />eliminate all stockings except those easiest to understand and implement in Table 1. <br /> <br />. Criteria required to stock in Table 1 create additional costs for private landowners <br />(evaluations of connectivity, antimigration devices, other physical improvements) thereby <br />indirectly increasing the cost of private sector aquaculture products. <br /> <br />7 <br />