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aforementioned experimental stocking plans. These plans were intended for initiating a <br />comprehensive restoration stocking program aimed at establishing naturally sustaining <br />populations. They were also more specific than earlier experimental stocking plans and met the <br />goals and objectives set forth by the Genetics Management Plan (Wydoski 1995; Czapla 1999) <br />and the Endangered Fish Interim Management Objectives (IMO's) for the RP. These stocking <br />plans provided direction and rationale for initiating and conducting propagation, augmentation, <br />and restoration for razorback sucker in select rivers within the Upper Colorado River Basin in <br />each of the respective states. The plans also included priorities among the four different <br />endangered fish species and river reaches, genetic risk assessment, size and number of fish to <br />stock over a period of 5 to 9 years, time of year to stock for best survival, and criteria for <br />contribution to recovery success as well as expectations and limitations. <br />Both Colorado (Kesler 2001) and Utah (Hudson 2001) revised their former plans to be <br />consistent with population abundance criteria developed within the recovery goals for razorback <br />sucker (FWS 2002) and the other three endangered fish species in the Upper Colorado River <br />Basin. These two revised plans identified stocking targets over the next 8 to 10 years based on the <br />criteria in the recovery goals and integrated survivorship estimates (see Ryden 2001). These <br />criteria replaced the previous objectives identified in each of the two plans based on the IMO's. <br />The primary goal identified in these stocking plans was to establish at least one to three minimum <br />viable razorback sucker populations (5,800 adult fish from ages, 5 to 7) in the Upper Colorado <br />and Gunnison rivers in Colorado to complement the existing razorback sucker populations in the <br />middle and lower reaches of the Green River in Utah. Utah's plan identified establishing one <br />minimum viable population in the Green River (5,800 fish of a multiple age-class structure). <br />These revised stocking plans called for the production of fewer, but larger razorback sucker than <br />earlier versions, and considerably less fish than requested for this evaluation. The Colorado <br />stocking plan for razorback sucker called for producing a 300-mm, domestic-reared razorback by <br />the age of 2 + before stocking into the mainstem Colorado and Gunnison rivers in Colorado. <br />In November 2002, an integrated stocking plan was formulated that served as an <br />addendum to the previous stocking plans developed by Colorado (Kesler 2001) and Utah <br />(Hudson 2001). The integrated plan (Nesler et al. 2002) unified the separate State stocking plans <br />and included the San Juan River subbasin; the intent was to add consistency throughout the Upper <br />Colorado River Basin. For razorback sucker, the number of Age 2 + fish to be stocked annually <br />in the Upper Colorado and Gunnison rivers was decreased from 16,440 to 9,930 due to the <br />increase of multiple age groups from 3 to 4. This plan recommends maintaining four adult age <br />classes, which would require stocking razorback sucker for 6 years. Unchanged was the survival <br />5