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<br />~. Fish"acf$jetc~ ,~.
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<br />, Razorbacks collected, stocke.d
<br />.. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
<br />stocked nearly 250 9-inch r~orback
<br />'. suckers in the Gunnison River this faIL
<br />The fish were raised in hatcheries or
<br />ponds in a'rand Junction, Colo" or
<br />Wahweap, Utah, The agency has intro-
<br />duced ,more than 4,500 of these 'rare
<br />. fish in this river since 1995. , .
<br />To produce fish for future stockings, '.
<br />federaL biologists n~ar Vernal, Utah, ..
<br />this fall collected 21 adult razorback.
<br />suckers from, the, Green' River for
<br />spawning, .These adult, fish produced
<br />more .than 13,000 larvae, The young
<br />are being raised at the the Ouray
<br />Nationai Fish Hatchery and at the Utah
<br />Diyision ofWi'l~life Resources' hatch-
<br />ery faciliiy at Wahweap,
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<br />Wolford water tapped for fish
<br />A total of 11;500 acre-feet of water
<br />was released from' Wolford Mountain, '
<br />Reservoir this f~ll to benefit endan-
<br />gered fish, thanks to an agreement
<br />:made 'by 'the' Colorado River ,Water
<br />. Conservation District last January, .
<br />The agreement calls for up to 6,000,
<br />acre-feet. to be released annually. to
<br />. boost low flows during the late-sum-
<br />mer irrigation season inthe" I5-mile
<br />,reacn"of the Colorado River near
<br />Grand Ju~ction, This year, the,River .
<br />District provided an additionaI5,500"
<br />acre- feet:
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<br />. More fish use Redlands Fish Ladder'
<br />Since its completion in 1996, the
<br />trough-I ike fish ladder around the
<br />Redlands Diversion Dam has enabled
<br />42 endangered. Colorado squawfish
<br />B;,d more than)6,OOO other native fish
<br />, to migrate around the dam to reach his-
<br />torical habitat upstream,
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<br />SquaWtish on rise.
<br />During annual monitoring studies,
<br />researchers have found twice as many
<br />adult Colorado squaWfish in the Green
<br />River. in recent years.. Biologists
<br />believe more of the fish are surviving
<br />and, reproducing because, Flaming
<br />Gorge Dam is being operated in a more
<br />
<br />
<br />.Pho-to bY. Connie Young
<br />
<br />Paul Hanna, a former technician with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in
<br />Vernal; Utah, prepares to inje,ct an electronically coded tag into a razorback
<br />. sucker. All endangered Colorado River fish are Implanted with' one ,of these
<br />tags before .being stocked. The size' of, a 'penCil lead, the tags enable
<br />researchers to subsequently identify the fish.and evaluate the success of
<br />stocking effor1s. '. .' ' .
<br />
<br />ecologically oriented manner, In the . Squawfish renamed
<br />, Colorado River, the scientists detected, . In' response to concerns expressed
<br />three times as. many sq'uawfish since by Natl've' American groups, the
<br />1991, due 'partly to healthy river flows .. American 'Fisheries Socieiy' has
<br />over the' last' several years,' Habitat changed' the name of the Colorado
<br />improvements made through the, squawfish . to the . Colorado
<br />,Recovery Program' are expected to pikeminnow. The Colorado squawfish
<br />give these fish a better changes to sue-, or pikeminnow isa mernber of the min-
<br />cessfully reproduce in the. wild. now family, and is unrehited to pike,
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