Laserfiche WebLink
two other individuals less than 400 mm TL were detected in sampling in the 1990's that could be <br />reasonably classified as wild fish. Regression of average annual length offish captured as a <br />function of time resulted in a negative slope coefficient (-2.96, SE = 1.55, P = 0.07), which was <br />heavily influenced by the few small fish captured in 1994 and 1995. In the absence of those few <br />small fish in 1994 and 1995, average length offish in the middle Green River was similar over <br />1 <br /> <br /> <br />1 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />1 <br /> <br />i <br />1 <br /> <br /> <br />time. <br />The negligible changes in length of recaptured PIT-tagged fish from 1990 to 1999 <br />suggested that razorback suckers in the Green River grew slowly overtime (Fig. 7). Changes in <br />length between recapture intervals was generally less than 20 mm TL for most fish, regardless of <br />the length of the recapture interval. Notably, two individuals which were at large 10 and 11 <br />years, increased an average of 2 and 0.45 mm TL per year, respectively. Many fish apparently <br />decreased in TL, which suggested measurement error. <br />Abundance estimates.-Abundance estimates of adult razorback suckers calculated for <br />pairs of sequential years from 1985 to 1992 averaged 456 animals (Table 3, Fig. 8 in part). <br />Regression analysis did not detect a substantial change in average annual abundance over the <br />same period (Table 4), although the coefficient was negative. We excluded the 1982 estimate <br />which was based on only a single recapture to provide the most conservative trend analysis. <br />Inclusion of that abundance estimate would have leveraged the slope of the regression coefficient <br />substantially downward. <br />Abundance estimates of adult razorback suckers calculated for pairs of years from 1993 <br />to 1999 were reduced from earlier levels and averaged about 210 animals. From 1994 to 1997, <br />captures and recaptures were particularly sparse so estimates in 1995 (1994 and 1995 year pair) <br />and 1997 (1996 and 1997 year pair) were unavailable and estimates for 1994 and 1996 were <br />14 <br /> <br />