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<br />6 . Executive Summary <br /> <br />Estimated annual survival of adult humpback chub <br />was 0.755, but the 95% confidence intervals place <br />this estimate as high as 0.896. Sub adults in the <br />mainstem, up to 3 years of age, had an estimated <br />annual survival of about 0.100, and over 3 years <br />only 1 in 1,000 fish survive to recruit as adults. <br />Although the various sources of mortality were not <br />quantified, marking studies indicate that movement <br />to reaches downstream of the LCRI aggregation <br />probably resulted in a permanent loss of individuals <br />to the aggregation. Low estimated numbers of <br />subadults surviving to adult in the mainstem suggest <br />that recruitment may not be sufficient to offset <br />mortality of adults. A smaller than expected <br />number of younger adults (based on length- <br />frequencies of adults captured) indicates that most <br />of the recruitment of mainstem adults may be from <br />the LCR and not from survival of younger chubs in <br />the mainstem, <br /> <br />It was estimated that brown trout, rainbow trout, <br />and channel catfish potentially consume about <br />250,000 subadult humpback chub annually in the <br />26.4-kin subreach between the LCR and Bright <br />Angel Creek. Surviving fish that are transported <br />into the Inner Gorge probably have low survival <br />because of limited shoreline habitat and high <br />predator densities. Young humpback chub that <br />descended downstream of Lava Rapid (RM 65.4) <br />did not ascend this point to return to the LCRI <br />aggregation, and hence, recruitment potential was <br />lost from the LCR population. <br /> <br />MOVEMENT <br /> <br />Adult humpback chub in Grand Canyon exhibited <br />strong spatial fidelity for specific river sites, similar <br />to behavior observed in other populations, Average <br />net displacement (distance from first to last radio <br />contact or capture site) for radio-tagged and PIT- <br />tagged adults in Grand Canyon was only 1.49 kin <br />and 0.99 kIn, respectively, which was similar to 0,8 <br />kin and 1.67 kIn, respectively for adults in the Black <br />Rocks reach of the Upper Colorado River Basin <br />(Valdez and Clemmer 1982). Average time of radio <br />contact for radio-tagged fish and between captures <br />of PIT -tagged fish was 93 days and 406 days <br />respectively. Adults in Grand Canyon however, <br />demonstrated greater gross displacement (sum of <br />distances between radio contact sites) of 5.13 kin <br />compared to 1.64 kin in Black Rocks, primarily as <br />a result of spawning migrations from various <br /> <br />Final Report <br /> <br />mainstem locations into the LCR Maximum round- <br />trip distance traveled by an adult from the mainstem <br />into the LCR for spawning was 40 kIn, although the <br />only mainstem adults that migrated to the LCR were <br />from within a 13.5-km subreach (RM 57 - RM <br />65.4). The majority of these fish returned to <br />locations within 2 km of their premigration sites <br />(Fig. 6). <br /> <br />The home range of the adult portion of the LCR <br />Inflow (LCRI) aggregation was 28.4 kIn, including <br />13.5 kin in the mainstem and 14,9 km in the LCR <br />Adults moved very little between aggregations, <br />indicating that most adults throughout the canyon <br />were associated with groups of fish at specific river <br />locales, Of 1,524 adults captured in the LCRI <br />aggregation (280 recaptured), only two were <br />recaptured outside of the 13.5-km mainstem area in <br />other downstream aggregations. Also, four <br />sub adults (>175 nun TL) were recaptured <br />downstream of the LCRI aggregation in the adjacent <br />aggregation, <br /> <br />Long-range movement and local activity of adults in <br />the LCRI aggregation were greatest during <br />spawning-related behavior from February through <br />May. Adults moved to large local congregations in <br />disjunct eddy complexes in February, then migrated <br />to stage at the LCR inflow, prior to ascent into the <br />LCR for spawning. Adults from upstream and <br />downstream of the LCR moved simultaneously to <br />the LCR inflow, suggesting that external <br />reproductive stimuli, such as photoperiod, cued <br />gonadal maturation and pre-spawning migrations. <br />Remote radiotelemetry indicated an average <br />residence time of about 17 days at the LCR inflow <br />by staging adults, suggesting that the fish <br />accumulated temperature degree days for gonadal <br />maturation. This pre-spawning staging led to <br />significantly higher catch rates of adults in this area <br />in late January - March (Fig, 7). Adults ascended <br />the LCR during decreasing LCR flows, increasing <br />water temperatures, and decreasing turbidity, <br />indicating that spawning ascent was cued by <br />conditions in the LCR, while mainstem staging was <br />cued by other factors such as photoperiod and slight <br />seasonal mainstem wanning. <br /> <br />Adults in the mainstem moved very little during <br />non-spawning periods, in summer, fall, and winter <br />(July-January), when local movement was primarily <br />influenced by time of day, turbidity, flow magnitude, <br />