U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has re-evaluated the incidental take statement affecting endangered Rio Grande silvery minnows for the 2003 Middle Rio Grande Biological Opinion, at the request of the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Biological Opinion covers a 10-year period and outlines actions to be taken to benefit the silvery minnow.
The Service has estimated a new incidental take number of 10,440 minnows for 2005 and will provide a new limit annually by July 1 for the life of the Biological Opinion. The Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the two federal agencies that manage river conditions, recently requested that the Service re-evaluate the estimated number of minnows that may be lost in a year. Monitoring and salvage efforts have documented substantial increases in minnow numbers. This spring the Rio Grande overflowed into the bosque, providing outstanding nursery habitat for young silvery minnows. The resultant large increase in minnow numbers may mean, as the river dries, that more minnows could die than was anticipated in 2003.
The previous incidental take statement estimated that up to 760 dead minnows would be documented during monitoring. That number was based on a single years data. From now on, the Service will estimate the limit annually based on a formula that considers fall monitoring data, indexes spring flows and includes the number of minnows stocked into the river during the year. "The new formula uses the basic assumptions that gave us the 760 number but allows us to run the calculations each year using current information," said Dr. Joy Nicholopoulos, Acting Assistant Regional Director for the Services Southwest Region.
The Endangered Species Act prohibits killing endangered species but also recognizes that species could die during the normal course of conducting legal activities. The Service then estimates how much loss will occur without jeopardizing the species.
"This has been a promising year for the minnow," said Nicholopoulos. "It makes sense to revisit an estimate made when the species numbers were much lower."
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 544 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resources offices and 81 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign and Native American tribal governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Assistance program, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
-http://southwest.fws.gov-
