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<br />002763 <br /> <br />1. Reintroduce Colorado Squawfish into their historic range. All fish stocked in the <br />Upper Basin will be marked before release into the wild, consistent with ongoing efforts. <br />Restocked areas will be sampled by standard fishery techniques to assess survival, growth, <br />etc. Follow-up stockings in reintroduction sites should be based on monitoring results to <br />determine if initial stocking is contributing to the reestablishment of a self-sustaining <br />population, <br />. Develop capabilities to produce adequate numbers of Colorado squawfish for <br />research and management: produce an adequate supply of genetically diverse and <br />disease-free Colorado squawfish to support research, recovery, and reintroduction <br />efforts and to maintain a refugium population. <br />. Develop or improve propagation, holding, and rearing techniques to optimize <br />production: Additional information on propagation, rearing, and holding <br />techniques must be developed to optimize production. A need exists to determine <br />optimum loading capacities of holding/rearing facilities for different sizes offish. <br />Additional production and rearing capability should be developed to meet <br />anticipated needs, but emphasis should be placed on maximizing the use of existing <br />capabilities (Dexter and Willow Beach National Fish Hatcheries, State facilities). <br />. Maintain a diversified gene pool. Studies should be undertaken to determine <br />whether significant genetic differences exist among fish from different sub-basins <br />and to determine the number of brood fish needed to provide natural genetic <br />diversity for at least 20 generations. If iiI/Ie or no genetic impact is indicated, <br />hatchery broodstock will be supplemented as necessary with wildfish or gametes <br />from wildfish of different rivers to maintain genetic diversity. <br /> <br />. Conduct reintroduction programs in the Upper Basin. Colorado squawfish <br />populations occur in several reaches of Upper Basin rivers. Stocking programs will <br />need to be evaluated to determine if they will contribute to reproduction and <br />establishment of self-sustaining populations. If so, programs will be initiated to augment <br />existing populations and reestablish populations in reaches were Colorado squaw fish <br />are absent. <br />. Assess the role of artificial propagation of Colorado squawfish in providing fish <br />for research and for augmentation stocking. Some basic questions about size at <br />stocking, habitat use, interspecific competition, olfactory cues and imprinting, and <br />reproductive success must be answered to determine the feasibility of stocking <br />artificially propagated Colorado squawfish. This may require carefully planned <br />experimental stocking. Questions associated with artificial propagation include size, <br />capacity, location, etc., offacilities needed to rear Colorado squawfishfor research <br />and for stocking <br />. Conduct reintroduction/augmentation programs. If stocking of captive-reared <br />Colorado Squawfish is determined to be feasible in successfully restoring or <br />augmenting self-sustaining populations of Colorado squaw fish, then efforts to <br />initiate stocking programs will begin. This will include identification of appropriate <br />stocking sites, development of stocking plans at each site, restoration or preparation <br />of stocking sites, and implementation of monitoring of stocking programs. <br /> <br />3 <br />