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<br />Section n. <br />Impacts of the Procedures for the stocking of non-native fish in the upper Colorado River <br />basin on private landowners and the commercial aquaculture industry <br /> <br />Introduction <br /> <br />Recreational sport fishing is a 1 billion dollar per year industry in the state of Colorado as <br />estimated by the Colorado Division of Wildlife (E. Kochman, personal communication). The <br />supply of aquaculture fish to the waters of Colorado is acknowledged by most wildlife <br />professionals to be responsible for the support of angler use that results in the majority of <br />expenditures that comprise this economy. The private sector aquaculture industry in Colorado is <br />estimated by state and federal agriculture agency surveys (completed annually) to produce and <br />distribute the equivalent of more than a third of the live fish stocked into the waters of Colorado <br />annually. Aquaculture industry advocacy groups, such as the National Aquaculture Association, <br />have credited the private sector aquaculture industry with support of a third of Colorado's <br />tourism based angling economy worth $300 million dollars per year. The upper Colorado River <br />basin supports a substantial portion of this economy through the stocking and management of <br />many nonnative species of sportfish. Nonnative fish species such as mosquitofish, white amur, <br />and fathead minnows provide valuable biological functions as pest control agents and bioasssay <br />organisms. The policy for the stocking of non-native fish in the upper Colorado River basin is <br />required as part of the recovery implementation plan for endangered fishes. This policy when <br />authorized will reduce the number of species and the total number of fishes stocked for <br />recreational and aquatic management use in the upper basin. The majority of nonnative fish being <br />stocked for these functional uses are supplied by the private aquaculture industry for use by <br />private landowners. This portion of the evaluation is designed to identify impacts and recommend <br />mitigation as it pertains to the private sector. <br /> <br />\ <br /> <br />Methods <br /> <br />The identification of impacts of the stocking procedures to private landowners and the <br />commercial aquaculture industry could only be completed through active discussions with those <br />that participate in the industry. The first step of this procedure was undertaken by the Colorado <br />Department of Agriculture in 1994 when it completed a survey of instate and out of state <br />warmwater fish suppliers. These suppliers were sent a questionnaire that requested information <br />on the species and number of fish distributed on the western slope of Colorado in 1993. <br />Distribution was broken down by county to allow identification of specific areas of commerce <br />activity. The results of this questionnaire were used in the compilation of impacts and mitigation <br />recommendations for this document. <br /> <br />3 <br />