Technical Report
Rio Grande Silvery Minnow Augmentation in the Middle Rio Grande, New Mexico Annual Report 2007
Date: 2008/12/08
Author(s): Remshardt W.J.
Publication: Report prepared for U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, 55 p.
Abstract:
In response to declining distribution and abundance, New Mexico Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office has released over 1,000,000 hatchery-raised Rio Grande silvery minnow into the Rio Grande since 2002.
In 2007, 133,154 Rio Grande silvery minnow were released into the Middle Rio Grande, New Mexico. Along with favorable spring snowmelt flows for spawning and recruitment in 2004 and 2005, these efforts resulted in increased catch rates of young-of-year Rio Grande silvery minnow initially in the Angostura Reach, but increases have been seen in all reaches since.
Results indicate that hatchery raised individuals can be released back to the wild with adequate retention in or near original release sites, can experience survival of at least 2 years after release, and ultimately can contribute to future spawning efforts.
In addition to reporting for 2007, an updated Rio Grande silvery minnow Augmentation Plan was prepared and can be found in Appendix D.
Future efforts in 2008 will include continuing augmentation efforts in the Middle Rio Grande and potentially reintroductions in the Big Bend region of Texas