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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY <br />Between 1988 and 1990, 96,600 Colorado squawfish (Ptychocheilus <br />lucius) were stocked in Kenney Reservoir, a mainstem impoundment on <br />the White River near Rangely, Colorado. The Colorado squawfish is <br />a state and federally listed endangered species and Kenney <br />Reservoir was constructed in habitat occupied by these fish. As <br />part of the mitigation for the reservoir project, Colorado <br />squawfish were stocked to artificially establish a population above <br />the dam and create a sportfishery in the reservoir. <br />The first monitoring phase of this stocking was from 1989 to 1990 <br />as a graduate student research project. This study determined that <br />large numbers of stocked squawfish quickly left the reservoir and <br />moved downstream of the study area. The author concluded the <br />disappearance of Colorado squawfish from the reservoir was due to <br />downstream movement, natural mortality and predation, and possibly <br />to the difficulty of sampling these fish at a juvenile size in a <br />large water body. <br />The present study continued the monitoring effort during 1991 and <br />1992. The primary objective was to determine if stocked Colorado <br />squawfish still occurred in the reservoir and in the river above <br />and below it. Sampling of the reservoir was conducted by <br />electrofishing, trammel and gill netting, and seining. The river <br />was sampled mainly by seining although electrofishing and trammel <br />nets were used at one large backwater. This study completes the <br />evaluation of stocking above the dam. <br />Four Colorado squawfish were captured in 1991 -- one in the <br />reservoir and three in the river above the reservoir. None were <br />collected in 1992. No stocked squawfish were found either year in <br />the river downstream of the reservoir where most of the recaptures <br />had occurred in the previous study. All four fish were Age 2+ <br />which was also the age of the oldest fish found in the previous <br />study. Older and larger fish were not captured. <br />The result from this stocking effort is that the Colorado squawfish <br />stocked in Kenney Reservoir no longer occur in the reservoir or in <br />the White River above the reservoir. In conclusion, the attempt to <br />artifically create a Colorado squawfish population above the dam <br />and a sportfishery in the reservoir was unsuccessful. However, two <br />suspected stocked Colorado squawfish were collected recently (1993 <br />and 1995) downstream of the dam, indicating that some stocked fish <br />may have survived. The contribution of these stocked fish to wild <br />Colorado squawfish populations and their role in the recovery of <br />the species has yet to be determined. Monitoring for these stocked <br />fish should continue below Kenney Reservoir. <br />v <br /> <br />