Turning mitigation into beneficial conservation for native fish species in Arizona

Authors: Julie Meka Carter

Year: 2013 (xlv)

Abstract

Mitigation and conservation programs and projects specifically tied to fisheries resources have been developed for decades to offset impacts of various activities including dam construction and operation, water delivery, extractive industry development, and sport fish stocking. In Arizona, a new conservation and mitigation program was recently developed to offset the impacts of sport fish stocking on native aquatic species. There has been a recent movement to use mitigation dollars to a broader extent by considering it as a tool to aid in the restoration and conservation of native aquatic species in a more holistic and comprehensive manner. The mitigation approach or strategy varies by program, but ultimately follows the ‘avoid, minimize, compensate’ concept. When fisheries conservation projects are tied to a mitigation program, it is generally as a result of the protection of the Endangered Species Act for threatened and endangered fish. Thus there becomes a substantial opportunity for fishery managers to develop meaningful and comprehensive conservation and mitigation programs to benefit certain species. However, some of the challenges therein lie with the ability to implement a long-term beneficial conservation program while working with a multitude of partners, matching mitigation actions with existing species recovery or management plans, variability and constraints with funding, and the ability to show measureable success as a result of the program. This presentation will give an overview of Arizona’s conservation and mitigation program and discuss the challenges and successes presented in the first two years of its inception.