Fish

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed today to downgrade a Colorado River fish, the razorback sucker, from “endangered” to “threatened.” KNAU’s Melissa Sevigny reports.

Here’s a fish story for you: what if you could get paid to go fishing all day? The National Park Service wants anglers to help get rid of exotic brown trout at Lees Ferry on the Colorado River. The agency is giving cash prizes for every fish to try to knock down their numbers. KNAU’s Melissa Sevigny reports, the program is an unusual experiment, designed to meet the goals of the Park Service but also respect the spiritual beliefs of the Zuni Tribe.

Endangered fish in the Colorado River face multiple threats. Their survival is linked to the river’s temperature, which is altered both by climate change and by dams. A new study from the U.S. Geological Survey modeled those temperature changes and imagined a future in which water storage is either mostly in Lake Powell or mostly in Lake Mead. KNAU’s Melissa Sevigny spoke with lead author Kimberly Dibble about what those different scenarios mean for native fish.

Lees Ferry on the Colorado River below Glen Canyon Dam is a world-famous rainbow trout fishery. But in recent years a different nonnative fish, the brown trout, has started to grow in numbers. The brown trout is a predatory fish that gobbles up not only the rainbows but also endangered native species in the Grand Canyon. Now, state and federal wildlife agencies have come up with a plan to reduce their numbers. They’re paying people to go fishing. Starting today, anglers can earn 25 dollars a head for catching and harvesting brown trout. KNAU’s Melissa Sevigny spoke with Ken Hyde, chief of science at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, about the new incentive program.