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UPPER COIORAID RIVER ENDANGERED FISH . RECOVERY PRffiRAM FalllWinter 1998 . , Utahto stock. thousallds of rare bonytails Utah Division of wildlife Resources biologists plan to stock a total of. . 20,000. endangered bonytails in the Colorado and' Green'rivers by next spring, In the rivers and tributaries of.. the 'upper Colorado River basin, bony- tails are nearly extinct . Supported by the Upper Colorado River Endangered' Fish Recovery Program, the Division has stocked at . least 2,000 of these rare fish annually. for the last three years, Most of the:fish ,were 4 to' 5 ,inches' long; a few were about 12 inches. . "Atone time, tbe bonytail was among the most n~merous species in . the Colorado River," said Tom Chart, a Utah .Divisionof Wildlife Resources project. leader. in Moab. "Something . . knocked them out of the system.By bringing them back, we can evaluate whether recovery efforts made in behalf of the Colorado,squawfish will also benefit the bonytail.". ... . The U,S.Fish and Wildlife Service raised the~e fish at. its National Fish. Hatchery in Dexter, N,M, The young bonytilils then were transferred to the state's hatchery ponds at Wahweap; Utah, and allowed to grow large enough for stocking, All fish were implanted )Vith tiny electronic tags, 'enabling researchers to' use a hand-held scanner to identifY and ,track individual fish that are recap- lured, Radio-tags were implanted in 10 of the adult fish to penn it weekly tracking of their movements. Both types of tags provide informa- Photo courteSY:Of Utah Division of Wildlife Resources Wayne Gustaveson(right), Utah Division of Wildlife Resources program manager, at Lake PO,well, 'and two 'seasonal employees net fish at the Wahweap hatchery facility near the state's southern border. See BONYTAIL, Page 3