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<br />On the Green River, all bonytail were released at Green River State Park (RM 120.0), <br />approximately 16 river miles below Desolation/Gray Canyon. Monitoring occurred from RM 136 <br />down to RM 0 at the confluence with the Colorado River (Figure 1). <br /> <br />METHODS <br /> <br />Hatchery Production <br /> <br />The broodstock being used to reintroduce populations in the UCRB is maintained at Dexter <br />National Fish Hatchery and was established from a relict population in Lake Mohave. Eggs are <br />fertilized and hatched at Dexter, bonytail fry are then transferred to Wahweap State Fish Hatchery <br />where they are reared to release size in ten ponds. Growth rates depend highly on fish density in <br />the pond. In the initial two years of the study, the target size for bonytail after their fIrst summer <br />at Wahweap was 120 mm TL with a range of 65-170 mm TL. After a second summer growing <br />season at Wahweap, fish averaged approximately 300 mm TL. When the study switched from <br />working off of the Reintroduction Plan (1996-1997) to the State of Utah Stocking Plan (1998 and <br />on), the stocking number increased. This increased production resulted in increased fIsh density <br />at the hatchery and growth rates plummeted. The study design was severely compromised at this <br />point; by the last year of the study it took two years in the hatchery to produce a 130 mm fish. <br /> <br />Wahweap also oversaw the marking of all bonytail before their release. From 1996 through 1998, <br />all released bonytail were PIT tagged. During this period, all fish were weighed, measured, <br />tagged and returned to the grow-out ponds one to two weeks prior to stocking. In 1999 through <br />2001, production was stepped up and less expensive coded wire tags (CWT) were implanted in all <br />stocked fIsh. During this time period, only a sub-sample of one or two hundred fish were weighed <br />and measured at the release site. Retention of coded wire tags was examined in fIsh tagged in <br />1999 and then held over winter. Retention was 98% on the first 100 fish examined and <br />subsequent spot checks have averaged 95% (Gustaveson and Bradwisch 2001). The drawback of <br />the CWT is that individual coding contained on the tag can not be retrieved without killing the <br />fish, and lethal sampling was not approved during the 1996-2001 monitoring period. <br /> <br />Stocking <br /> <br />Stocking ofbonytail raised at Wahweap State Fish Hatchery in the Colorado River occurred <br />between October 18, 1996 and April 2001. Stocking in the lower Green River commenced <br />October 27, 1998 and ended in April 2001. Marked bonytail were removed from grow-out ponds <br />at Wahweap, loaded into transport trucks, and delivered to the release sites. The transport water <br />contained 0.5% salt to reduce stress. River water, which was generally cooler, was pumped into <br />the holding tanks to lower temperatures and acclimate fIsh for approximately one hour. The <br />difference in transport and river temperatures was usually 50 C or less. During the first two years <br />of stocking, fish were released in the fall following one season in grow-out ponds. In 1997, the <br />smaller (80-100 mm) portion of that years cohort was held over winter to allow for additional <br /> <br />4 <br />