8287

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 8287
• Author: Nelson, P., C. McAda and D. Wydoski.
• Title: The Potential for Nonnative Fishes to Occupy and/or Benefit from Enhanced or Restored Floodplain Habitat Adversely Impact the Razorback Sucker.
• USFW Year: 1995.
• USFW - Doc Type: \
• Copyright Material: NO

Program that would aid in getting razorback larvae through the critical
early life period. However, it is recognized that a number of nonnative
fishes will also benefit from enhancement or restoration of floodplain
habitats. By employing an adaptive management approach through field
experimentation, the bottleneck of recruitment for razorback sucker may
be solved as concurrent control methods are implemented that are
dependent on the target nonnative fish species.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

Seventeen (17) "problematic" nonnative fish species would likely benefit,
directly or indirectly, from enhancement or restoration of floodplain
habitats. Twenty-fiv~ other nonnative fishes do not pose a high threat of
predation or competition with the endangered fishes. Although various options
have been identified for resolving the problem, we believe that application of
an adaptive management approach should be used through carefully designed
field experiments that will evaluate methods to aid in the survival of
razorback sucker during the early life stages and, at the same time, partially
control nonnative fishes that may prey upon or compete with the razorback
sucker. The razorback sucker is a long-lived species with a rather high
fecundity that probably exhibited strong year classes when environmental
conditions were suitable. Recovery of this species may be possible if
successful recruitment can be achieved in 1 out of 10 years.

REFERENCES

Bayley, P.B. 1991. The flood pulse advantage and the restoration of river-
floodplain systems. Regulated Rivers: Research and Management 6: 75-86.

Beyers, D.W., R.T. Muth, and M.S. Farmer. 1993. Competitive interactions between
larvae of Colorado squawfish and fathead minnow. Unpublished manuscript.
Larval Fish Laboratory, Colorado State University, Fort Collins. 36 pp.

Burdick, B.D. 1995. Ichthyofaunal survey of the Gunnison River, 1992-1993.
Colorado River Fishery Project, U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and
Wildlife Service, Grand Junction, Colorado. (Draft)

Crowl, T. 1994. Personal communication. Department of Fishery and Wildlife
Science, Utah State University, Logan.
e ~:'-:.:_,_ \,:-, "'::-.' ',",,:;':._ '_, '_':,-_'__,',,-:_::>-_":'~::,~-~-:'~:"'>?: '>~-::--;
DUlYsrriftor, ,1... 1993. Laboratory;"'~itudies of fath@acJ~JJ;..~lf"la_h~.Ui.l(fd
larvae. Natural Resources Department, The Klamath Tribes, Chiloquin,
Oregon. Research Report KT-93-01. 16 pp.

Grabowski, S.J. and S.D. Hiebert. 1989. Some aspects of tropic interactionsin
selected backwaters and the main channel of the Green River, Utah: 1987-
1988. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Research and Laboratory Services
Division, Environmental Sciences Section, Denver, Colorado. 130 pp. + an
appendix of 155 pp.

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