Conducting research

Researchers from various universities and state and federal agencies independently began gathering information on these fish in the 1960s. In 1979, the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Colorado River Fisheries Project began coordinating research on endangered fish. These early research projects provided background information necessary to guide current research studies.

Since 1988, all research and capital construction projects in the upper Colorado River Basin have been coordinated by the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program.

• In May 1996, biologists discovered young-of-the-year (newborn) razorback suckers near the confluence of the Green and San Rafael rivers in Utah. Researchers had never before found young razorbacks there so early in the year, suggesting that a new or previously unidentified population of this fish may exist in the lower Green River.

• In 1995, biologists discovered that Colorado pikeminnow were spawning in the Gunnison River. This was the first documented spawning of squawfish in the upper reaches of the Gunnison. Biologists also confirmed spawning in the Colorado River near Grand Junction.

• Researchers have studied the impacts of "electro-fishing" on razorback sucker reproduction. The scientists found that the percentage of eggs that hatched dropped significantly when fish were exposed to the current before reproduction. Based on these findings, electrofishing practices have been revised making them safer for razorback suckers.

• Federal and state biologists completed a comprehensive report summarizing the first seven years of efforts to track endangered and other native fish populations.