Blue River Native Fish Restoration Project

Authors: Kent Mosher, Anthony Robinson, Kaleb Smith

Year: 2017 (xlix)

Abstract

The Blue River Native Fish Restoration Project is a multi-agency effort focused on protecting and restoring the native fish assemblage within the Blue River drainage in eastern Arizona The project was initially focused on the lower 19 km of the Blue River, from Fritz Ranch to its confluence with the San Francisco River, and consisted of three main components: construction of a fish barrier (completed in 2012), mechanical removal of nonnative piscivorous fishes, and repatriation and monitoring of federally listed warm-water fishes Between 2009-2017, Arizona Game and Fish Department staff conducted 7 nonnative piscivorous fish removal efforts (Flathead Catfish, Channel Catfish, Common Carp, and Green Sunfish), 6 native fish stockings (2 Spikedace, 2 Loach Minnow, and 2 Roundtail Chub), and 6 post-stocking monitoring efforts in the lower Blue River As of 2017, large-bodied piscivorous fish have not been detected in the lower Blue River for four years and Green Sunfish have not been detected for one year Spikedace and Roundtail Chub have also established self-sustaining populations, and Loach Minnow abundance appears to be increasing following the 2011 Wallow Fire Due to these successes in the lower Blue River, restoration efforts have expanded upstream to include the middle Blue River between The Box and McKittrick Creek Roundtail Chub and Spikedace were stocked into the middle Blue River in 2016 and 2017, respectively, in efforts to expand the range of these species in the river Roundtail Chub monitoring efforts in 2017 detected 57 Roundtail Chub in the middle Blue River; however, additional monitoring efforts are needed to determine if this population is establishing