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most YOY Colorado squawfish in the upper Green River are believed to originate) during those same <br />years. Jones and Tyus (1985) concluded that the discrepancy between the larvae produced and those <br />retained in the Green River was related to the high runoff events of that year, and especially, to high <br />releases from Flaming Gorge Reservoir throughout the summer. Those high flows inundated most <br />backwaters along the Green River and Colorado squawfish larvae could not find suitable habitat. <br />A similar discrepancy between numbers of larval Colorado squawfish leaving the Yampa River <br />and their relative abundance as YOY in the upper Green River occurred during this study. During a <br />3-year period when larval Colorado squawfish were collected using drift nets as they left the Yampa <br />River, they were most abundant in 1990, less so in 1992, and least abundant in 1991 (K. Bestgen, <br />Larval Fish Laboratory, personal communication). In contrast, relative abundance of YOY Colorado <br />squawfish in the upper Green during those years was greatest in 1991 and about equal in 1990 and <br />1992. The factors that may be responsible for the discrepancy between relative numbers of larvae <br />produced and relative numbers of YOY that survive their first growing season need to be further <br />addressed. <br />An event that confounds understanding the relation between relative abundance of YOY Colorado <br />squawfish and various physical factors that may affect them is an oil spill that occurred on the upper <br />Yampa River in 1989 during the estimated spawning period. Gmean CPE in the upper Green River <br />was the lowest in 1989 of any years sampled during ISMP. Researchers have speculated that the oil <br />may have hurt reproductive success by either affecting the olfactory senses of the migrating adults or <br />by destroying the eggs after they were laid or larvae after they hatched. Unfortunately, no sampling <br />for adults was done near the spawning area in 1989 so it is not known whether fewer fish spawned <br />than in other years. No larval Colorado squawfish were collected in drift samples that year (CDOW, <br />unpublished data); however, drift sampling was conducted for a relatively short period compared to <br />other years. Runoff in 1989 was the lowest of any observed during ISMP, which also may have been <br />a factor. <br />McAda and Kaeding (1989a) reported some of the early monitoring data collected from the <br />Colorado River (1986-1988) as well as similar data collected from 1982 through 1985. They reported <br />low CPE in Reach 1 during 1982-1984 and high CPE in 1985-higher than observed during any year <br />of ISMP, but just greater than observed in 1986. In Reach 2, they observed low catch rates in 1982 <br />and 1985. Mean CPE in 1983 and 1984 in Reach 2 was comparable to the first year of ISMP. <br />Clearly, the trend in reproductive success and survival of young Colorado squawfish in the Colorado <br />River is downward. YOY Colorado squawfish abundance is down in both reaches when compared <br />with early monitoring program data, as well as data collected before 1986 (Archer et al. 1982; <br />McAda and Kaeding 1989a). <br />McAda and Kaeding (1989a) reported a significant positive correlation between gmean CPE of <br />YOY Colorado squawfish in the lower Colorado River and flow events the previous spring. The <br />ISMP data reported here follow that trend, although the correlation is not as high when the analysis is <br />done for ISMP data alone. Mean CPE was positively correlated with a number of parameters <br />representing flow events throughout the year including spring runoff. When ISMP data collected <br />since 1988 are added to the analysis done by McAda and Kaeding (1989a), the correlation values <br />improve slightly, primarily because of increased sample size. They hypothesized that reproductive <br />success is improved for Colorado squawfish when spring runoff is moderately high. All of the data <br />reviewed here have come from years of low to moderately low snow pack and reproductive success <br />has remained low. A test of the hypothesis will come during years when spring runoff is increased. <br />Mean CPE in the upper river has been so low in recent years that assessment of any relations with <br />20 <br />