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Conclusions <br />The major trend identifiers with YOY Colorado squawfish monitoring has been the continued low <br />reproductive success (including production and survival of age-0 fish through their first growing <br />season) in the Colorado River and higher, but variable reproductive success in the Green River. <br />Basic data on distribution, growth and relative abundance of YOY Colorado squawfish collected with <br />ISMP were consistent with that reported by previous investigators: (1) YOY Colorado squawfish were <br />more abundant in the Green River than they. were in the Colorado River; (2) they were usually more <br />abundant in the lower Green than in the upper Green, but they were always more abundant in the <br />lower Colorado than in the upper Colorado River; (3) YOY Colorado squawfish averaged between 35 <br />and 45 mm long at the end of their first growing season, their size was related to water temperature, <br />and fish from the upper Colorado River were typically smaller than fish from the other three reaches. <br />Observations on habitat use of YOY Colorado squawfish was inconclusive, but suggested avoidance <br />of small and shallow or cool backwaters. <br />Introduced species composed 75 to 9990 of all fishes collected during ISMP (usually > 959'0) and <br />three of those introduced species-fathead minnow, red shiner, and sand shiner-collectively <br />composed about 999 of that total. These three species have increased in the Colorado River since <br />ISMP began, but their abundance in the Green River has been variable. Other introduced fishes that <br />were collected included white sucker, common carp, mosquitofish, plains killifish, black bullhead, <br />channel catfish, bluegils, green sunfish, and largemouth bass. Colorado squawfish were usually the <br />most common native fish collected. Other native species included bluehead sucker, flannelmouth <br />sucker, Gila spp., and speckled dace; most of these specimens were YOY or juveniles of these <br />species. <br />The basic sampling design and sampling reaches for YOY Colorado squawfish monitoring should <br />remain unchanged, but several options to improve the program should be explored further. These <br />options include: (1) further restricting the physical characteristics of backwaters sampled based on <br />conclusions of the Nursery Habitat study, (2) increasing the number of seine hauls taken in large <br />backwaters, (3) incorporating aspects of mark-recapture population estimates into the program, and <br />(4) expanding the investigation to collect more data on species not specifically targeted by ISMP. <br />25 <br />