Quantitative Assessments of Native Fish Recovery in the San Juan River Basin

In 1990s, state, federal, and tribal agencies executed a cooperative agreement to launch the SJRBRIP to conserve and recover Colorado Pikeminnow and Razorback Suckers in the San Juan River Basin while meeting water needs of the local communities. The primary focus of the project went to mechanically removing nonnative fish (especially Channel Catfish) via electrofishing. In 2016, a quantitative revealed that the electrofishing has yet to fully eradicate the Channel Catfish and that the native fish has a 25% lower juvenile survival rate compared to wild populations, possibly due to the negative effects of electrofishing mark-recapture methods on juvenile fish.