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became relatively abundant in electrofishing samples in 1994. Bluehead YOY catch rates <br />declined steadily from 1992 through 1996 as did the native speckled dace. <br />Channel catfish were the most abundant species collected from main channel habitats. <br />with nets and electrofishing every year of study. Throughout the course of eight years offish <br />community monitoring channel catfish have been nearly twice as abundant as Gila spp. As with <br />chubs and flannelmouth suckers, channel catfish average annual net catch rates were greatest in <br />1989 (0.918) and were lowest in 1994 (0.149)(Report C; Appendix Figure 2). The highest <br />channel catfish catch rate (1.21) was recorded in 1990 at Cedar Ridge (RK 295.7).. A length <br />frequency analysis reveals a dynamic population with Age 1 catfish (TL range 100-200 mm) <br />present every year with the exception of 1994 (Report C; Appendix Figure 5). In 1993, channel <br />catfish apparently failed to successfully reproduce or overwinter, however, successful <br />recruitment was documented during this project's. highest flow year (1995). <br />CONCLUSIONS <br />Geomorphology arzd Habitat <br />The character of eddy habitats was strongly influenced by discharge, whereas the total <br />eddy area was not. Eddies increase in frequency and decrease in size as discharge <br />increases from baseflow to about 7,000 cfs. Above 7,000 cfs eddies became larger but <br />less frequent, resulting in essentially no net change. <br />In Deso/Gray, the area occupied by the active channel has decreased on average 19 <br />percent since the beginning of this century. Two episodes of channel narrowing were <br />identified, evidenced by two new and distinct surfaces that have formed this century. The <br />cottonwood terrace is an abandoned floodplain that began to stabilize between 1922 and <br />1936 as a result ofnaturally-occurring climate change. After the closure of Flaming <br />Gorge Dam a second lower surface, the modern floodplain, has become densely <br />colonized by riparian vegetation and is accumulating sediment. <br />Increasing discharge now submerges bare sand and cobble bars and substantially <br />increases the amount of inundated vegetation along shorelines. <br />Green River fish habitat is complex and dependent on surrounding geology and variable <br />flow regimes (Schmidt 1996). The following geomorphological tendencies were <br />apparent. Eddy formed backwaters are the dominant backwater habitat available to YOY <br />fish in these canyon reaches. The shoreline features that create eddy habitats are <br />generally stable structures and usually persist through a runoff event. As result low <br />velocity habitats during the baseflow period formed in basically the same places from <br />year to year. <br />~` <br />-~; <br />xviii <br />