Shortnose and Lost River suckers are two species endemic to the upper Klamath basin.\u00a0 They are relatively slow growing and long lived, with maturation times of 5 and 8 years and average lifespans of 12 to 20 years.\u00a0 Historically there were hundreds of thousands of each species living in upper Klamath lake.\u00a0 Their abundance and large size (max length of about 2 feet) made them a reliable and culturally important food source for the native American tribes.\u00a0 Now, with a host of different factors negatively affecting their survival, both species are federally listed as endangered.<\/p>\n
In 2016, in an effort to prevent both species from going extinct, the US Fish and Wildlife service partnered with Gone Fishing, a local business that specialized in rearing tropical aquarium fish, to start a propagation and rearing program for Lost River and shortnose suckers.\u00a0 This partnership was ideal for several reasons.\u00a0 First, there was an already existing facility with ponds and a geothermal water source that proved to be useful with controlling water temperatures over winter.\u00a0 Second, the owner had decades of experience and expertise with rearing and propagating fish which has contributed a great deal to the success of the program.\u00a0 Third, the partnership with a local small business helps the program gain support from the general public, where the economy is largely based on agriculture.\u00a0 Efforts to protect endangered fish are not always welcomed if it means restricting water use for irrigation.<\/p>\n
This effort is unique in that unlike the hatchery programs of the past, which supplemented the wild populations with fish hatched from a captive broodstock, this program captures wild larvae as it is drifting downstream.\u00a0 This does not significantly impact the wild population because the adult suckers are spawning successfully.\u00a0 The population bottleneck happens during the early juvenile stage in the first 1 or 2 years of life.\u00a0 The larval fish are started off in glass aquaria for the first few weeks and fed a diet of brine shrimp.\u00a0 The glass tanks are useful for monitoring the larval fish for disease.\u00a0 After the fish outgrow the tanks they are transferred to .1 acre earthen ponds, built to try and mimic their natural environment.\u00a0 They are raised in these ponds for 2 years, after which they are collected, weighed, measured, tagged, and released.<\/p>\n
This spring, the first 2 weeks of April, the first cohort of larval fish captured were released back into the wild.\u00a0 It will be several years before we know if these fish actually make it to reproduce, but the release was celebrated as a proof of concept, there was 99% survival to the release stage.\u00a0 The program is now gaining a lot of attention and support, from congressional leaders to local farmers and other water users who view this as an opportunity to allow the downlisting of the species, leading to fewer water restrictions.\u00a0 That could mean more funding and an expansion of the program, as well as higher stakes for delivering concrete results.\u00a0 Let\u2019s hope we can meet these high expectations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Shortnose and Lost River suckers are two species endemic to the upper Klamath basin.\u00a0 They are relatively slow growing and long lived, with maturation times of 5 and 8 years and average lifespans of 12 to 20 years.\u00a0 Historically there … Continue reading