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4 <br />Mills 1988). The Recovery Implementation Program for Endangered Fishes of the <br />Upper Colorado River Basin (USFWS 1987) identifies the stocking of native <br />fishes as one of five principal elements of the recovery program. One of the <br />goals of the Long Range Plan (Anonymous 1990) is to augment present <br />populations or to restore razorback sucker to presently unoccupied historic <br />range by stocking in the upper Colorado River basin. These two documents <br />identify the need to explore the possibility of supplementing existing <br />populations of razorback sucker through experimental stocking using hatchery- <br />and pond-reared fish, and provide the direction and framework toward <br />accomplishing this task. <br />This document will attempt to further define the necessary activities <br />for experimental stocking of razorback sucker populations. Some of the <br />objectives that could be accomplished by releasing hatchery-produced fish in <br />riverine reaches include 1) obtaining information about ecology of wild <br />populations, and 2) evaluating the utility of stocking to augment present <br />populations, or restore extirpated populations. The ultimate recovery goal <br />for the razorback sucker is to establish and maintain naturally self- <br />sustaining populations throughout their historical range. <br />Stocking hatchery fish may be useful in achieving recovery goals for <br />razorback sucker populations. However, the size and total number of <br />hatchery-reared fish that must be stocked to significantly increase the size <br />of the population, the best locations for such stocking, and other important <br />considerations are currently unknown. Such information would be particularly i <br />important to the planning of recovery efforts. <br />Razorback sucker have been successfully propagated at hatchery facilities <br />and reared in grow-out ponds in the lower and upper basins. Glen Canyon Dam <br />10 <br />I