Laserfiche WebLink
Westwater Canyon; areas with high YOY Colorado squawfish abundance were <br />correlated with earlier high relative abundance of larval fish (Figures <br />14 and 15). YOY Colorado squawfish catch per effort for the Green River <br />is shown in Figure 16. In the Green River catch per effort of YOY <br />Colorado squawfish was reduced to about one-half the average obtained in <br />previous years. This reduction no doubt reflects the very high water <br />levels in 1982 and does not indicate a poor spawning year. Shallow <br />backwater habitats were virtually non-existent during the YOY collections <br />on the Green River. Indeed, it is surprising that our collections <br />produced 637 YOY fish in the Green River and we interpret these data to <br />mean that reproduction was as high as in previous years. However, it is <br />possible that YOY survival may be decreased due to the unfavorable water <br />conditions. <br />Backwater and Gravel Pit Investigations_ <br />Adult Colorado squawfish and razorback sucker were collected from <br />nearly all of the gravel pits investigated (Table 3). When river runoff <br />subsided and gravel pits became isolated from the river, Colorado squawfish <br />were no longer found in the pits; however, razorback sucker continued to <br />be collected from four gravel pits (numbers 1,2,4, and 7 in Table 3). <br />Colorado squawfish evidently moved out of the gravel pits before the <br />pits became isolated. Fyke nets set in the entrance of WWWA caught 12 <br />Colorado squawfish leaving WWWA in late June, when the river began <br />receding. Another Colorado squawfish was caught leaving WWWA in early <br />July. Fyke nets collected two adult Colorado squawfish leaving and one <br />entering Labor Camp pit during that same period. Post-runoff sampling <br />resulted in the collection of two larval Colorado squawfish in Island <br />Backwater pit (Table 3) on August 11. No larval Colorado squawfish were <br />collected from the remaining gravel pits. <br />Largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides and green sunfish Le omis <br />c anellus were the dominant predators in both Fish Pond (Figure 17 and <br />Labor Camp (Figure 18). However, Fish Pond also had large numbers of <br />bluegill.(L. machrochirus) and black crappie Pomoxis nigromaculatus). <br />Before Colorado squawfish were stocked, 155 largemouth bass, 247 <br />green sunfish, 881 bluegill and 1483 black crappie were removed from <br />Fish Pond. Population estimates made after small squawfish were stocked <br />showed appreciably larger opulations of largemouth bass in Labor Camp <br />than in Fish Pond (Table 4?. <br />In spite of our removal effort, green sunfish remained common in <br />Fish Pond. Largemouth bass less than 350 mm in length were the predators <br />that most frequently contained stocked Colorado squawfish. The frequency <br />of largemouth bass containing stocked Colorado squawfish was high early <br />in the study, and diminished over time (Table 5). This decrease is <br />probably a result of decreased numbers of available Colorado squawfish <br />and a decline in water temperature (Figure 19) with an attendant decline <br />in largemouth bass feeding rate. <br />-25-