August 2017 Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation
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2017 FINAL INTERIM REPORT Population Status and Distribution of Razorback Sucker and Bonytail Downstream of Palo Verde Dam Work conducted under LCR MSCP Work Task C64 August 2017 Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program Steering Committee Members Federal Participant Group California Participant Group Bureau of Reclamation California Department of Fish and Wildlife U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service City of Needles National Park Service Coachella Valley Water District Bureau of Land Management Colorado River Board of California Bureau of Indian Affairs Bard Water District Western Area Power Administration Imperial Irrigation District Los Angeles Department of Water and Power Palo Verde Irrigation District Arizona Participant Group San Diego County Water Authority Southern California Edison Company Arizona Department of Water Resources Southern California Public Power Authority Arizona Electric Power Cooperative, Inc. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern Arizona Game and Fish Department California Arizona Power Authority Central Arizona Water Conservation District Cibola Valley Irrigation and Drainage District Nevada Participant Group City of Bullhead City City of Lake Havasu City Colorado River Commission of Nevada City of Mesa Nevada Department of Wildlife City of Somerton Southern Nevada Water Authority City of Yuma Colorado River Commission Power Users Electrical District No. 3, Pinal County, Arizona Basic Water Company Golden Shores Water Conservation District Mohave County Water Authority Mohave Valley Irrigation and Drainage District Native American Participant Group Mohave Water Conservation District North Gila Valley Irrigation and Drainage District Hualapai Tribe Town of Fredonia Colorado River Indian Tribes Town of Thatcher Chemehuevi Indian Tribe Town of Wickenburg Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District Unit “B” Irrigation and Drainage District Conservation Participant Group Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District Yuma County Water Users’ Association Ducks Unlimited Yuma Irrigation District Lower Colorado River RC&D Area, Inc. Yuma Mesa Irrigation and Drainage District The Nature Conservancy Other Interested Parties Participant Group QuadState Local Governments Authority Desert Wildlife Unlimited Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program 2017 FINAL INTERIM REPORT Population Status and Distribution of Razorback Sucker and Bonytail Downstream of Palo Verde Dam Prepared by: Lara J. McCall, Wesley J. Goldsmith, Brian R. Kesner, and Paul C. Marsh Marsh & Associates, LLC 5016 South Ash Avenue, Suite 108 Tempe, Arizona 85282 Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program Bureau of Reclamation Lower Colorado Region Boulder City, Nevada http://www.lcrmscp.gov August 2017 McCall, L.J., W.J. Goldsmith, B.R. Kesner, and P.C. Marsh. 2017. Population Status and Distribution of Razorback Sucker and Bonytail Downstream of Palo Verde Dam, 2017 Interim report. Submitted to the Lower Colorado River Multi- Species Conservation Program, Bureau of Reclamation, Boulder City, Nevada, by Marsh & Associates, Tempe, Arizona, under Reclamation agreement no. R16PD00904. ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ABS – acrylonitrile butadiene styrene AIC – Akaike’s Information Criterion amp-h – ampere hour AZGFD – Arizona Game and Fish Department CI – confidence interval cm – centimeter(s) DAL – days at large FWS – U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service g - grams kHz – kilohertz km – kilometer(s) L – liter(s) LCR – Lower Colorado River LCR MSCP – Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program M&A – Marsh and Associates, LLC m – meter(s) M, C, R – mark, capture, recapture mg L-1 – milligrams per liter mL – milliliter(s) mm – millimeter(s) ms – millisecond(s) MS222 – Tricaine methanesulfonate NDOW – Nevada Department of Wildlife NFH – National Fish Hatchery NFWG – Native Fish Work Group NPS – U.S. National Park Service PIT – passive integrated transponder PVC – polyvinylchloride Reclamation – Bureau of Reclamation RM – River Mile SFH – State Fish Hatchery SNARRC – FWS Southwestern Native Aquatic Resources and Recovery Center SUR - Submersible Ultrasonic Receivers SY – sample year TL – total length UDR – underwater diver receiver UTM – Universal Transverse Mercator Symbols ≥ - greater than or equal to ˂ - less than % – percent ® – Registered ™ – Trademark CONTENTS Page Executive Summary .......................................................................................... ES-1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 1 Study Area ........................................................................................................ 2 Methods................................................................................................................... 5 Releases............................................................................................................. 6 Remote PIT tag sensing .................................................................................... 6 Surgery .............................................................................................................. 8 December .................................................................................................... 9 January ...................................................................................................... 10 February .................................................................................................... 10 Telemetry ........................................................................................................ 13 Population Estimates ....................................................................................... 17 Results ................................................................................................................... 17 Releases........................................................................................................... 17 Contacts........................................................................................................... 18 Dispersal ......................................................................................................... 24 Population estimate ......................................................................................... 33 Avian predation observations ......................................................................... 34 Discussion ............................................................................................................. 35 Lessons Learned.................................................................................................... 38 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................... 40 Literature Cited ..................................................................................................... 40 Tables Page Table 1.—Subadult razorback sucker and bonytail released into A10 upper on December 14, 2016 ............................................................................................... 11 Table 2.—Subadult razorback sucker and subadult bonytail released on January 25, 2017................................................................................................................. 12 Table 3.—Repatriated adult razorback sucker released into A10 lower on February 22, 2017. ................................................................................................ 13 Table 4.—Summary of bonytail stocked into Reach 4 downstream of Palo Verde Dam and subsequent contacts. .............................................................................. 20 Table 5.—Summary of razorback sucker stocked into Reach 4 downstream of Palo Verde Dam and subsequent contacts. ........................................................... 21 Table 6.—Dispersal of subadult razorback sucker and bonytail released into A10 upper on December 14, 2016.. .............................................................................. 27 Table 7.—Dispersal of subadult razorback sucker and bonytail released into A10 lower and A7 upper on 01/25/2017. ..................................................................... 29 Table 8.—Dispersal of adult repatriate razorback sucker released into A10 lower on 2/22/2017. ........................................................................................................ 30 i Figures Page Figure 1.— MSCP Reaches 4 and 5 on the lower Colorado River......................... 3 Figure 2.—Backwaters in MSCP Reach 4 on the lower Colorado River. .............. 4 Figure 3.—Aerial imagery of backwaters in MSCP Reach 4. ................................ 5 Figure 4.—Location of PIT tag sensing units deployed throughout backwaters and the river channel in Reach 4 from October 2016 – April 2017. ............................. 7 Figure 5.—Location of SURs deployed in the river and backwaters in Reach 4. 15 Figure 6.—Proportion of bonytail contacted more than 30 days post release by release location and size at release........................................................................ 22 Figure 7.—Proportion of razorback sucker contacted more than 30 days post release by release location and size at release. ..................................................... 22 Figure 8.—Number of bonytail released by release location and size at release. 23 Figure 9.— Number of razorback sucker released by release location and size at release. .................................................................................................................