9656

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 9656
• Author: Stempel, M. and R. Wydoski.
• Title: Final Environmental Assessment - Disposition of Captive-Reared Endangered Colorado River Fish.
• USFW Year: 1995.
• USFW - Doc Type: Denver, CO.
• Copyright Material: NO

Reclamation, National Park Service, National Biological Service, Colorado
State University, Utah State University, Brigham Young University, and
scientists from other agencies and locations conduct field and laboratory
research on the endangered fishes that is approved by Recovery Program.
3. Stocking. The history of fish culture and stocking in the United States
has been concisely and appropriately stated by Radonski and Martin
(1986): "The arc of the fish culture pendulum has come full swing: from
early consideration as a universal fisheries management panacea, through
a transitional period of questioning and disrepute, to a final
recognition as a indispensable tool when appropriately integrated with
other equally essential fisheries management protocol." A series of
questions that should be thoroughly considered in preparing a proposed
stocking plan (Heidinger 1993) are: Why stock? What presumptive stock
should be used? What size? What quality? What number? Where and when?
and For how long? Goals, objectives and criteria must be clearly stated
and thoroughly considered when using stocking as a management tool (Noble
1986).
Experimental stocking to support priority research will be an important
component in recovery of the endangered Colorado River fishes. Priority
research includes topics such as habitat use by life stage, imprinting to
specific locations by chemoreception, relation between survival and size
of fish at stocking, etc.
Augmentation stocking provides a "jump-start" mechanism to supplement
fish in habitats where wild stocks are very depressed and where
successful natural recruitment will be needed to establish self-
sustaining wild populations. The rationale for augmentation stocking is
to provide a critical number of fish for successful spawning in the wild.
Such stocking may be required for recovery of the razorback sucker in the
upper basin. Restoration stocking will be required for reintroduction of
the bonytail since this species is nearly extirpated in the upper basin.
Restoration stocking may also be required to recoionize river reaches
with Colorado squawfish and razorback sucker where unoccupied but
suitable habitat occurs within their historic range. All stocking of
hatchery-reared endangered fish will be done through Program-approved
stocking plans with measurable objectives, risk assessments, and an
identified timeframe for thorough evaluation.
The need for augmentation or restoration stocking will be based on
information from monitoring endangered fish stocks to determine status
and trends, research studies to determine ecological requirements, and
evaluations of habitat improvement projects. Stocking will be done where
suitable habitat is available to meet the ecological requirements of the
endangered fishes or in connection with habitat restoration activities to
maximize the liklihood of success.
Stocking plans are presently being developed to stabilize and augment
razorback sucker stocks and to reintroduce the bonytail into the Upper
Colorado River Basin. The plans will define the numbers of endangered
fish to be produced in captivity for stocking. Furthermore, the numbers