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

I Martin (1986) : "The arc of the fish culture pendulum has come full
swing: from early consideration as a universal fisheries management
panacea, through a transitional period of questioning and disrepute,
to a final recognition as a indispensable tool when appropriately
integrated with other equally essential fisheries management
protocol." A series of questions that should be thoroughly considered
in preparing a proposed stocking plan (Heidinger 1993) are: Why
stock? What presumptive stock should be used? What size? What
quality? What number? Where and when? Goals, objectives and
criteria must be clearly stated and thoroughly considered when using
stocking as a management tool (Noble 1986).
As described under the section on "Research and Development",
experimental stocking will be an important component in recovery of
the endangered Colorado River fishes. Augmentation stocking provides
a "jump-start" mechanism to supplement fish in habitats where wild
stocks are very depressed and where successful natural recruitment
will be needed to establish self-sustaining wild populations. The
rationale for augmentation stocking is to provide a critical number of
fish for successful spawning in the wild. Such stocking may be
required for recovery of the razorback sucker in the upper basin.
Restoration stocking will be required for re-introduction of the
bonytail since this species is nearly extirpated in the upper basin.
Restoration stocking may also be required to recolonize river reaches
with Colorado squawfish and razorback sucker where unoccupied but
suitable habitat occurs within their historic range. All stocking of
hatchery-reared endangered fish will be done through Program-approved
stocking plans with measurable objectives, risk assessments, and an
identified timeframe for thorough evaluation.
The need for augmentation or restoration stocking will be based on
information from research studies and evaluations of habitat
improvement projects. Obviously, stocking would not be done unless
suitable habitat is available to meet the ecological requirements of
the endangered fishes.
VII. GENETICS MANAGEMENT OF CAPTIVE ENDANGERED FISH
IN THE UPPER COLORADO RIVER BASIN
A. Program Philosophy. Mission, and Goals for Genetic Management of
Endangered Fishes in the Upper Colorado River Basin. The Program
philosophy and mission are to maintain the genetic integrity of wild and
captive-reared endangered fishes in the Upper Colorado River Basin (Box 1;
Figure 2; Echelle 1991; Meffe 1986). The rationale for this philosophy is
that natural refugia provide a source of preadapted genetic diversity that
increases the probability for successful recovery of the endangered fish
(Krueger et al. 1981; Samson 1992; Smith and Rhodes 1992). Recovery, by
definition, implies that reestablished endangered fish stocks will become
self-sustaining. Genetics management goals were identified to meet the
Program philosophy and mission in maintaining the genetic diversity of
endangered fishes in the upper basin (Box 1).
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