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Fish population status and recovery goals <br />San Juan River Recovery Program <br />Colorado squawfish <br />During a three -year study initiated in 1987, 10 adult and 18 young -of -the -year Colorado <br />squawfish were captured in the San Juan River, documenting the persistence of the <br />species between Shiprock, N.M., and Lake Powell. It also proved the fish were <br />successfully reproducing in the San Juan Basin within New Mexico and Utah. Later, nine <br />additional squawfish were captured between Shiprock and Four Corners and one was <br />observed about five miles upstream. General recovery objectives for Colorado squawfish <br />are to establish and protect self - sustaining populations in their natural habitat throughout <br />their current range, to legally protect their habitat and to remove the threat of significant <br />fragmentation. <br />Razorback sucker <br />Razorback suckers were reported in the Animas River in the 1890s, but confirmation of <br />their presence in the San Juan drainage was not made until 1976, when two adult fish <br />were found in a floodplain pond near Bluff, Utah. Between 1987 and 1990, razorback <br />adults were collected in the San Juan "arm" of Lake Powell and near Bluff. Recovery <br />objectives for the razorback sucker have not yet been set, but may include maintaining <br />wild native fish in "refuge" facilities to preserve genetically distinct populations; <br />maintaining and enhancing wild populations in their natural habitats; and if necessary, <br />stocking captive -bred fish. <br />Specific species recovery goals will be developed for the San Juan River basin by the <br />recovery team and will be submitted to the Service for review and approval. <br />