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<br />Final Report <br /> <br />Minnow Traps <br />Unbaited minnow traps were used to sample small <br />fish in shoreline habitats. Commercial Gee minnow <br />traps were used that were 44.5 cm (17.5 in) long, <br />22.9 cm (9 in) diameter, and constructed of <br />galvanized wire and steel. Funneled openings were <br />located at each end of the trap. Traps were placed <br />on the bottom or suspended in the water column <br />depending on conditions. Traps were also set in <br />pods of five as sample repetitions for habitat types. <br />Each trap was tethered to a secure anchor point and <br />discretely flagged for easy relocation. Traps were <br />checked at intervals of no longer than 12 hr to <br />minimize stress and mortality to fish, and to <br />minimi7e escapement by fish. <br /> <br />Seines <br />Seines were used to sample assemblages of small <br />fish in relatively shallow habitats (up to about 1.5 m <br />in depth). Three sizes of seines were used, including <br />9.1 m x 1.2 m x 0.6-cm (30 ft x 4 ft x 0.25-in), 9.1 <br />m x 1.5 m x 0.6-cm (30 ft x 5 ft x 0.25-in), and 3.0 <br />m x 0.9 m x 0.3-cm (10 ft x 3 ft x 0.125-in) (length <br />x height x square mesh). The float line was <br />constructed ofO.8-cm (0.32-in) braided polypropy- <br />lene with hard foam floats at 45-cm (l8-in) <br />intervals. The bottom line was made of braided <br />polypropylene line with lead sinkers at IS-cm (6- in) <br />intervals. <br /> <br />Length and width of each seine haul were measured <br />and three water depths were recorded at each sample <br />site; one at the deepest point of the haul, one <br />midway between the deepest point and the nearest <br />shore, and one between the deepest point and distal <br />end of the seine haul. Length and width of the <br />habitat sampled were also recorded. <br /> <br />Electrofishina <br />Electrofishing was used to sample fishes along <br />shorelines and to capture adult humpback chub for <br />implanting radio transmitters. Each electrofishing <br />effort was conducted within a distinct geomorphic <br />shoreline type (i.e., debris fan, bedrock cliff, cobble <br />bar, sand bar, talus, vegetation) to evaluate habitat <br />use and reduce variability in comparing catch rates <br />between habitats and reaches, as well as between <br />flow levels and over time. Electrofishing was <br />conducted along shallow shorelines and partitioned <br />by day, night, and crepuscular periods. <br /> <br />Study Design . 2-9 <br /> <br />Electrofishing was conducted from an Achilles SU- <br />16 research boat capable of ascending small and <br />mediwn-sized rapids for increased access to sample <br />areas (See Box 2-la.). Each boat was designed to <br />meet Occupational Safety and Health <br />Administration (OSHA) safety standards with <br />specialized features such as pressure-sensitive <br />safety switches, insulated railing, separate line- <br />channeling for circuits and lights, and complete <br />system groWlding. Rubber gloves, rubber boots, and <br />fiberglass-lined dip nets were provided for netters <br />and boat handlers. The system was powered by a <br />S,OOO-W Yamaha industrial grade generator (Model <br />YG-500-D) or a Honda 5,000-W generator (Model <br />EB 5,000X) and routed through a Mark XX <br />Complex Pulse System (CPS) developed by Coffelt <br />Manufacturing (Flagstaff, AZ). Stainless steel <br />spheres were used as electrodes with the anode <br />(positive electrode) suspended on a cable from a <br />fiberglass boom projecting from the bow, and the <br />cathode (negative electrode) was suspended from a <br />cable from the stem. Anode and cathode were <br />exchanged every 45-60 min,of electrofishing to <br />allow for cleaning of the cathode surface by <br />reversing the electroplating process. <br /> <br />During 1990-91, CPS output ranged from 15 to 20 <br />A and 300 to 350 V, as recommended by Coffelt <br />Manufacturing for electrofishing in the Colorado <br />River below Glen Canyon Dam (N. Sharber, Coffelt <br />Manufacturing, pers. comm.). In 1992, output was <br />reduced to a range of 8 to lOA and 200 to 250 V <br />after bruise marks were observed on trout under the <br />higher settings. The electrofishing system and the <br />fish captured were continually monitored to <br />minimize injury to fish as reported by Sharber and <br />Carothers (1988), Sharber et al. (1994), and <br />McMichael (1993).. <br /> <br />Analina <br />Angling has been used as an effective method for <br />capturing humpback chub in the Upper Colorado <br />River Basin, in Black Rocks and Westwater Canyon <br />(Valdez et al. 1982) and in Yampa Canyon (Tyus <br />and Karp 1989). Cheese balls, commercial salmon <br />eggs, stink bait, grasshoppers, Monnon crickets <br />(Tyus and Minckley 1988), and artificial flies have <br />been used with varying success. Angling was not <br />used extensively in this Grand Canyon study <br />because of the time necessary to catch this species <br />by angling, and because other sampling gears were <br />