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<br />1991. During this same period, 95 razorback sucker were collected from the <br />Green River (Table 1). Total numbers of razorback sucker collected from the <br />upper Colorado River declined dramatically from 1979 through 1992. Fifty-two <br />razorback sucker were collected during 1979-1981 from Lake Powell to Rifle, <br />Colorado (Valdez et al.1982); 35 razorback sucker were collected during 1982- <br />1985 (Archer et al. 1985); and seven fish were collected from 1986-1989 <br />(Osmundson and Kaeding 1989a) (Appendix Table 2; Figure 2). In 1990 and 1991, <br />an effort was undertaken to collect razorback sucker from portions of the <br />upper mainstem Colorado River to establish a broodstock refugia population. <br />Areas that were searched included stream reaches from Rifle to the <br />Utah/Colorado state line, Highline Reservoir (near Loma, Colorado), and ponds <br />adjacent to the river in these stream sections. Despite extensive effort, no <br />razorback sucker were collected or observed in the river sections searched. <br />So few adult riverine fish remain that it is unlikely that a mature male and <br />female razorback sucker would be concurrently attracted to the same spawning <br />area. <br />However, four adult razorback sucker were captured from Highline Lake in <br />1990. Fourteen additional razorback sucker were captured in 1991 from two <br />different isolated ponds between Rifle and Government Highline Diversion Dam. <br />One was captured in April from an isolated gravel-pit downstream of Rifle and <br />13 razorback sucker were collected from the second pond near Debeque, Colorado <br />in August. Twelve additional adult razorback sucker were captured by Colorado <br />Division of Wildlife (CDOW) personnel from this same pond in April 1992. <br />These fish were released back into this pond. <br />The genetic structure of the various razorback sucker populations has not <br />yet been defined. Assessing the existing genetic material for all possible <br />4 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />r <br />