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<br />PVC collection buckets (10-cm diameter). Each net had a 560 u mesh, a <br />length of 4 m and an open-mesh to net mouth ratio of 11:1. This design <br />enhances self-cleaning and filtration efficiency of the net theoretically <br />approaches 100% (Faber 1968, Tranter and Smith 1968). Attached to each net <br />frame was a removable 4-point, steel cable bridle assembly terminating in <br />a spring-loaded carabiner. Nets were deployed either by staking the net <br />frames to the substrate or by fastening the bridle carabiner to a <br />polypropylene line fixed to either an instream boulder or a metal post <br />driven into the shore. <br />Drift-net (ichthyoplankton) sampling in the Colorado River study area was <br />conducted in the Black Rocks area (km 219.8 to 218.2) at dawn, dusk, and <br />midnight using 3 nets during each collection period. Sampling duration <br />ranged from 30 minutes to 1 hour/set depending upon accumulation of sand <br />and organic debris in the collection buckets. A Marsh-McBirney flowmeter <br />(Model 201) was used to measure water volume filtered by each net. An <br />attempt to attach nets to a cable stretched the full width of the river <br />was abandoned for safety reasons. In the Yampa River study area, <br />only 1 net was used/site due to restricted storage space in the inflatable <br />raft used to travel within the area. Drift sampling was conducted <br />in conjunction with regularly-scheduled random sampling and sampling times <br />per date varied; however, approximately equal numbers of nocturnal and <br />diurnal collections were taken over the period. Sampling duration varied <br />from 30 minutes to 7 hours depending upon the amount of organic debris <br />and sand accumulation. Water volume filtered by the net was measured <br />with a pygmy flowmeter (Gurley Model 625 F). <br />Samples were preserved in 10% formalin and returned to the laboratory for <br />sorting and analysis. Specimens were stored in 3% buffered formalin. <br />Specimens were identified to the lowest feasible taxon, counted, and <br />measured to the nearest 0.1-mm total length (TL). Since reliable criteria <br />for the differentiation of YOY and juvenile chubs (including hybrids <br />and/or intergrades) are not yet available, all ch~~bs were listed as Gila <br />spp. Drift rates were computed as number/1,000 m3. A nonparametric <br />permutation technique (Mielke and Iyer 1982) was performed on Colorado <br />River data to compare drift densities (response variable), collectively, and <br />for predominant taxa, among the 3 sampling times (treatments) over the <br />entire sampling period. Lack of replication and sampling time variability <br />did not permit a similar analysis of Yampa River drift data. <br />RESULTS AND DISCUSSION <br />A total of 694 individual collections (seine and drift net) was made <br />in both study areas combined (Table 1). In the Colorado River, 384 <br />samples were collected between 5 March and 27 August, 1982. In the Yampa <br />River, 310 samples were collected between 18 April and 23 October, 1982. <br />Due to a rafting accident, 46 Yampa samples collected on 8-11 June, were <br />lost. Preliminary sorting and analysis of 1982 samples are complete. Data <br />have been stored on the Fish and Wildlife Service MANAGE database program <br />at Colorado State University, Fort Collins. The current status of MANAGE <br />data files from 17 March, 1981 to present are shown in Table 2. <br />