08-31-2005, 03:06 PM
[font "Arial"]SANTA FE, NM—The New Mexico Game Commission announced last week that it has approved a project to eliminate nonnative trout in 126 miles of streams and 25 lakes north of Taos through fishing, electroshocking and poisoning. [/font]
The project, aimed at increasing populations of native Rio Grande cutthroat trout in the Rio Costilla watershed, was unanimously approved and is an attempt to keep the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from adding the fish to the Endangered Species Act.
The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish will have the option of using a fish poison, known as antimycin, as a last resort and upon the approval of the commission if all other methods fail.
The Rio Grande cutthroat, once common in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado, has been reduced to less than 7 percent of its historic range. A host of factors ranging from habitat loss to competition with introduced non-native trout has been blamed for the decline.
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The project, aimed at increasing populations of native Rio Grande cutthroat trout in the Rio Costilla watershed, was unanimously approved and is an attempt to keep the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from adding the fish to the Endangered Species Act.
The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish will have the option of using a fish poison, known as antimycin, as a last resort and upon the approval of the commission if all other methods fail.
The Rio Grande cutthroat, once common in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado, has been reduced to less than 7 percent of its historic range. A host of factors ranging from habitat loss to competition with introduced non-native trout has been blamed for the decline.
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