8123

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 8123
• Author: Wydoski, R. S.
• Title: Coordinated Hatchery Facility Plan
• USFW Year: 1994.
• USFW - Doc Type: Need for Captive-Reared Endangered Fish and Propagation Facilities.
• Copyright Material: NO

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comprehensive "Hatchery Feasibility Study for Endangered Fishes in the
Colorado River Basin" for the State of Colorado (URS Consultants 1991; 1992).
However, even with these efforts, the Program element of propagation and
stocking has been difficult to address because of uncertainty in stock
identification, lack of precise knowledge about the status and trends of the
endangered fish stocks, and lack of specific recovery objectives in long-term
strategic recovery plans. Long-term Program needs to propagate and stock
endangered fish to augment wild stocks have not been well defined. This
dilemma was due, in part, to the fact that most past Program efforts were
directed at defining the life history and identifying ecological requirements
of the endangered fish. However, the need for experimental stocking has been
recognized by all biologists. Field experimentation on the role of olfaction
and chemoreception in endangered fish homing or fidelity and the value of
flooded bottomlands to recruitment was only recently begun in which captive-
reared endangered fish needs were identified. Finally, the results of ongoing
genetic studies are not available to aid in verification of presumptive
spawning stocks and few broodstocks of presumptive wild stocks have been
developed to meet Program goals of maintaining genetic diversity (Williamson
1993a).
Although biologists in the Upper Colorado River Basin agree that there is a
need for captive-reared endangered fishes for field experimentation (including
augmentation and restoration stocking), they question the need for large-scale
augmentation and restoration stocking. Upper basin biologists also agree that
stocking should be viewed as a management tool and not a panacea for recovery
since stocking alone will not result in self-sustaining wild fish populations.
Indeed, an extreme management action such as establishment of captive
populations indicates that recovery efforts may have been initiated too late
(Tear et al. 1993). Adequate habitat and control of non-native fishes that
are predators on or competitors with the native fishes are needed for recovery
of the endangered fishes, especially to overcome the major limiting factor or
"bottleneck" of survival in the early life stages.
III. PURPOSE OF THIS PLAN
The approach (Figure 1) used to obtain necessary information for this plan
focused on identification of presumptive stocks of endangered fish in the
Upper Colorado River Basin, review their status and trends, and establishment
of priorities by species and stocks within species. The presumptive stocks of
endangered fishes in the San Juan River were not included in the analysis of
status, trends, and priorities because a separate recovery effort is being
developed for that river. The priorities were used to identify captive-reared
fish needs that, in turn, were used to identify hatchery facility needs. The
plan:
1. identifies presumptive stocks of endangered fishes in the upper
basin,
2. defines the present status and trends of these stocks,
3. establishes priorities by species and by stocks within species,
4. identifies propagation needs for recovery of endangered fishes in the
upper basin,