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1 1 1 APPENDIX I Colorado River Fish and Wildlife Council Fish Disease Subcommittee Minutes January 15, 1998 Sidney, Nebraska Wild Fish National Health Survey Update State participants voiced concern over how the program was being handled by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service. Andy Anderson will provide the group with a written outline of how the program is suppose to work. The main criticism was the Service received funding to increase their laboratory capabilities for extra wild fish sampling but nobody is coordinating with the states for sample collection. Additionally, the Service needs to take the lead on informing and training state biologists on how to correctly take samples for fish health examinations and where to send the samples. Due to the aforementioned concerns, Wyoming is not participating in the program. The group decided to ask the council if the subcommittee could draft a letter for signature by the Council's chairman to the Service addressing the issue. If given permission, Ron Goede will draft a letter for the Council chairman's review and signature. Discussion on regulated pathogen variances for transported T & E fish (interstate and intrastate)- Utah, Arizona, and California do not transfer wild fish from one water to another without a disease clearance. In Utah the State Department of Agriculture must approve the move. The Utah Department of Agriculture won't allow the importation of T& E fish from the National Fish Hatchery in Dexter, New Mexico because of the threat of introducing Asian Tapeworm. Utah is working on a mechanism whereby they can cut down on the paper work required to move T & E fish. Subcommittee members universally felt that most people working on recovery programs do not like to involve fish health professionals. Larry Harris has collected copies from most of the member states concerning the importation and movement of fish within their area of control. Anyone desiring a copy can contact him. Update on developing a course for field biologists involving the collection of samples for fish health examinations on native fish- At last year's meeting the Council supported the concept of training biologists to collect samples for fish health examinations on wild fish. Several subcommittee members stated that the Service is presently developing some course work on sample collection techniques to be presented in conjugation with other classes. The group concluded that the proposed letter on wild fish surveys, if approved by the Council, should include a statement on training state biologists the proper techniques for collecting wild fish health samples. Discussions on assigning fish health professionals to recovery programs to serve as technical ' experts- The subcommittee still requests that a fish health professional should be assigned as a technical expert for each recovery program. In order for a recovery program to be successful fish health and fish pathogens must be taken into consideration along with other factors that are ' attributed to the decline in any particular species. Larry Harris will draft a letter for input from the subcommittee and a final copy signed by our chairman, Don Junell, will be forwarded to the 1