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Methods <br />Subadult-adult Colorado squawfish monitoring was conducted in April and May, prior to peak <br />runoff. All sampling was conducted from rigid-bottom, outboard-powered electrofishing boats <br />equipped with 4- or S-kilowatt generators and WP-15's (or equivalent) to adjust the voltage <br />transmitted to the water. Electrofishing boats used two spherical anodes suspended from booms in <br />front and two cathodes (usually stainless steel cables) suspended from each side of the boat. <br />Investigators used direct current and tried not to exceed 300 volts or 12 amps (usually held on or <br />below 6 amps).- Electrode size and shape, and voltage and amperage output were adjusted regularly <br />to minimize the possibility of injuring a rare fish, while maximizing electrofishing effectiveness as <br />much as possible. <br />Investigators began at the top of each reach and electrofished downstream at a constant rate with <br />electrical current applied constantly to the water column. Investigators did not make judgements <br />about locations that might hold Colorado squawfish and attempt to 'sneak up' on fish. Right and left <br />shorelines of all sampling reaches were each sampled once. Backwaters, tributary mouths, and other <br />habitat features along the shoreline were also sampled. Because the sample reaches had different <br />lengths (5 to 22 miles), they were divided into at least two, but no more than five subreaches ranging <br />between 2.5 and 6 miles long. These subreaches remained constant after being established in the first <br />year of ISMP. Sampling began at the top of each subreach and proceeded to the bottom. If a rare <br />fish was captured within a subreach, sampling was stopped and the fish was processed and released as <br />near to the capture site as possible. Sampling began again at the location where the fish was captured <br />and continued downstream until another rare fish was captured or the end of the subsection was <br />reached. At the top of the next subreach, data sheets were completed and the elapsed-time clock was <br />reset before sampling-began again. Elective reaches were sampled using the same sampling design. <br />Only rare fishes (Colorado squawfish, razorback sucker, humpback chub, or bonytail) or fish of <br />special interest (e.g. northern pike or roundtail chub) were captured for the monitoring program. <br />Other introduced species (walleye, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, and green sunfish) that could <br />be identified when shocked were counted but not always captured. Rare fish attracted to the cathodes <br />that were identifiable, but that could not be netted, were also counted. All captured rare fish were <br />measured (total length [mm]), weighed (g), and tagged internally with uniquely-numbered PIT tags <br />(Burdick and Hamman 1993) before release. <br />Capture data were analyzed as number of Colorado squawfish collected per hour of electrofishing <br />effort (CPE). CPE calculations were done using two methods-1. (Colorado squawfish <br />collected/sampling time) and 2. ([Colorado squawfish collected + Colorado squawfish <br />observed]/sampling time). One sample consisted of the electrofishing done along one shoreline of one <br />subreach, with at least two samples (range, 2-8) taken in each monitoring reach. CPE was calculated <br />for all subreaches and then mean CPE was calculated for each monitoring reach and for each river. <br />CPE was not calculated for fishes other than Colorado squawfish. However, total numbers of the <br />species mentioned above were tallied for each sampling reach. Simple comparisons of total numbers <br />captured or observed while shocking were made in reaches or rivers where most of these species <br />occurred. <br />Size distributions of all Colorado squawfish collected were summarized by river. Mean and <br />median lengths and other summary statistics were calculated for the 13 reaches and four rivers <br />sampled. <br />10 <br />