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<br />Among the native species assemblage, only 2 of 470 flannelmouth suckers were <br />collected in the most upstream river segment (RM 1-6). Beginning with RM 7, they <br />became quite abundant and uniformly distributed throughout the river segments <br />downstream to RM 30. Bluehead suckers were captured in very low numbers, but <br />were collected in every river segment. Only three roundtail chubs were collected <br />during the 15 day sampling period. Two were captured in the uppermost river <br />segment and the other in the most downstream segment. Mottled sculpin and <br />speckled dace were incidental captures throughout the entire 30 mile reach of <br />river, but were not captured in portion to their true abundance or in relation <br />to the larger fish species. <br /> <br />Population Estimates by River Seqrnent <br /> <br />Estimates of population size (N) with the 95% confidence limits (95% CI), <br />density (N/ha), biomass (kg/ha), and density (N/ha) of fish (by species) ~ 35 <br />cm (14 inches) for each of four river study segments are given in Table 4. <br /> <br />Brown trout density and biomass estimates for the first two river segments <br />downstream from Bradfield Bridge were greater than those for the upper reach of <br />river. The highest brown trout density and biomass estimates occurred in the <br />third river segment (RM 17 - RM 25), while the lowest occurred in the most <br />downstream segment (RM 25 - RM 30) . <br /> <br />Dolores River rainbow trout density and biomass estimates were the highest <br />in the most upstream segment (RM 1 - RM 12) between the dam and Bradfield Bridge. <br />Density and biomass estimate for the stream-reared rainbow trout were similar for <br />the lower three river segments, i.e., RM 12 - RM 17, RM 17 - RM 25, and RM 25 - <br />RM 30). <br /> <br />McPhee Lake rainbow trout and kokanee salmon density and biomass estimates <br />were the highest in the most upstream segment (RM 1 - RM 12) and decreased <br />dramatically in the three lower river segments (Table 4). More than 6000 lake <br />rainbows and 1200 kokanee salmon were estimated to be in the most upstream study <br />reach. In comparison, the estimates of lake rainbow trout and kokanee salmon <br />occurring in the three lower study reaches combined were 499 and 63, <br />respectively. <br /> <br />Flannelmouth sucker density and biomass estimates were the highest in the <br />second and fourth river segments below the dam. These fish were the most <br />unifOrmly distributed among all the river segments of the six species for which <br />population estimates were calculated. <br /> <br />Bluehead suckers and roundtail chubs were the least abundant of the fish <br />species large enough to be efficiently collected with electrofishing equipment. <br />It was surprising that so few roundtail chub and bluehead suckers were captured. <br />The relative abundance of both species was much greater in the uppermost river <br />reach during fish trapping and electrofishing operations in July and August 1991 <br />(Nehring 1992). However, the summer of 1991 was at the end of a four year <br />drought, while the Dolores River drainage has experienced above normal <br />precipitation and run-off during the 1992 and 1993 water years. The longitudinal <br />distribution of the roundtail chub may have been pushed downstream in 1992 and <br />1993 as a result of the colder water temperatures and high levels and extended <br />duration of the spring run-off, especially in 1993. <br /> <br />Smallmouth bass were not marked and returned to the water for the purpose of <br />conducting a population estimate. Instead, all smallmouth bass collected were <br />removed from the stream and killed at the time of capture. However, 70% of the <br />smallmouth captured were taken on the first electrofishing pass through the <br />river, making it possible to complete a two-pass removal Seber-LeCren population <br />estimate (Seber and LeCren 1967). The smallmouth bass population estimate was' <br />25 with 95% confidence limits of :t 12, indicating the number of bass that <br />migrated out of McPhee Reservoir during the managed spill was quite small. <br /> <br />-5- <br />