3505

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 3505
• Author: Rinne, J., et al., ed. 1986.
• Title: American Fisheries Society,
• USFW Year: Role o
• USFW - Doc Type: \
• Copyright Material: YES

e.T, ell.
. __~5,-f1 J' ":_A ,~,"~___/J._}' h
~C"--- .(. . - ;. ~ ' ,~~-~~~--~-~-< ;I

The Role of Hatcheries in the Management and
Recovery of Threatened and Endangered ~ishes

03S0~

.,
J

1 ' '

John N.' Rinne, James E. Johnson, Buddy L. Jensen,
~lan w. Ruger, and Roger Sorenson

r; 3,

~

i; The' Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973
required federal agencies to become stewards of
rare fishes and their habitats. Application of the
law over the last decade has resulted in a sequential
process of listing, protection, and recovery of
imperiled species (Johnson and Rinne 1982). Plans
were drafted as guidelines to recover listed species.
Many recovery plans contain provisions for holding
and artificial propagation of listed species in hatch-
ery facilities. A critical problem to overcome was
the philosophy of hatchery operation. Primarily,
this process involved changing from rearing game
fishes to rearing non-game fishes and, also, from
rearing to insure species survival rather than pro-
duction for sport fishing.
Dexter National Fish Hatchery (NFH) in New
Mexico is a pioneering example of implementation
of a change in philosophy of hatchery operation
(Stuart and Johnson 1981). This totally endan-
gered-fishes hatchery has as its major objectives
to serve as a refugium, to provide opportunity to
conduct much needed research, and to propagate
fishes for re-introduction into the wild.
Certain problems, however, are inherent in a
large scale multi-species production facility such
as the Dexter NFH. First, inter-transfer (hatchery
to outside) and intra-transfer (pond-to-pond or
raceway-to-racewa y) of species must be precl uded.
Further, although not new concerns to hatchery-
rearing operations in general, diseases, genetics,
and domestication are untested factors as they
may apply to rare wild-strain species of fish. This
circumstance presents a new challenge in endan-
gered-species hatchery operation. Research and
culturing activity to date show that certain rare
species are not totally amenable to hatchery prop-
1 agation, while others are capable of producing

more than adequate offspring for re-introduction
and recovery efforts.
Once successful hatchery propagation of rare
species is achieved, the ultimate objective is to
re-introduce stock successfully back into the wild
and, ultimately, to establish viable reproducing
populations. To date, this objective has had at
least two major deterrents. First, agencies have
been slow to accept responsibility for an endan-
gered species intended for re-introduction on lands
under their management. This problem may have
been alleviated, in part, by the 1982 amendments
to the ESA that provide for experimental popu-
lations. More importantly, many species are rare
because of habitat loss. Species may be readily
propagated in the hatchery, but without suitable
sites for their re-introduction into the wild, the
role of hatcheries in endangered spec.ies manage-
ment is reduced to that of providing refugia.
This paper discusses actual and hypothetical
problems in culturing rare and endangered species
of fishes. The activities of establishing, operating,
and transferring the products of hatchery propa-
gation to the wild, with the goal of enabling the
recovery of rare species of fishes, are treated. In
addition, the potential for research into the biology
of threatened and endangered species is illustrated.
Hopefully, this work will make managetjoent agen-
cies and researchers aware both of the opportu-
nities that exist for them and of t~e role artificial
propagation can play in enabling lhe recovery of
rare and endangered species of fish;

Politics of Maintaining an Endangered-
Fishes Rearing Facility

Federal involvement with endangered species
began in 1966 upon the passage of the Endanger.ed

271

I J' ...