Here is some background information on the program: In 2016, the USFWS initiated the Klamath Basin Sucker Assisted Rearing supplementation Program (now known as the Klamath Falls National Fish Hatchery - KFNFH) to prevent extirpation of Endangered Species Act (ESA) listed endangered Shortnose Sucker (SNS), Chasmistes brevirostris, and Lost River Sucker (LRS), Deltistes luxatus, from Upper Klamath Lake (UKL). Since the mid-1990s, recruitment of SNS and LRS into the UKL spawning populations has been nearly completely impaired. The bulk of the existing SNS UKL spawning population is expected to blink out within 3-5 years, certainly to levels where the population could not rebound on its own.
The KFNFH raises fish on leased property at an actively operating aquaculture facility located south of Klamath Falls in Oregon. Fishery facilities developed and operated since the late 1980s have successfully supported, in cooperation with USFWS, the experimental production of suckers. The entire facility is supplied with geothermal water from a 100’ deep well. Geothermal water is cooled in three head ponds.
The well water filled ponds at KFNFH is ideal for culturing juveniles due to similar water quality parameters as UKL and the sterile nature of the geothermal source. Filling ponds with geothermal well water makes it easier to predict when the proper sized zooplankton will emerge in the ponds since it does not contain naturally occurring zooplankton. Another advantage is that it safeguards fish that are stocked by ensuring parasites, diseases, and fish and juvenile eating insect predators are not abundant.
Juvenile sucker of around 13mm, about the size they go into the ponds.
My main project for the program is to work on pond fertilization protocols. Fertilization in ponds is intended to promote phytoplankton growth, thereby promoting adequate zooplankton populations to sustain stocked juvenile suckers. The ponds need to be filled and fertilized before stocking juveniles into ponds to maximize the right size food items and enhance juvenile survival. The ideal timing of pond filling and fertilization will depend on several factors including the fish species in culture, peak of available food items of the correct mouth gape size and prey species desirability, reduction of undesirable species, and the incoming water (i.e. inoculum). The headpond water used during initial pond filling is a type of inoculum – it contains phytoplankton and zooplankton species that can populate the new habitat. The geothermal water is sterile, and the phytoplankton and other organisms must be introduced to the system. Aside from that, making sure proper water quality parameters are established and monitored in the ponds are essential to sustain the sucker fish populations.
Example of some of the ponds used for the culture of this fish in Oregon.
To experimental culture of these endangered species is a very delicate process, and many more parameters need to be considered from what has been mentioned to successfully grow these fish. I feel fortunate to be working with and learning from specialists in the area with the goal of successfully bringing up the numbers of endangered fish in an effective and sustainable manner.
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On an unrelated note: Latino Conservation Week was fun! My event was had a good turnout and I am also collaborating on another event that will run until August 31, 2020: Family Activity Box + Raffle / Caja de Actividades Familiares + Rifa! So please, check it out!
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Agency: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Program: US Fish & Wildlife Service - DFP
Location: Klamath Falls Field Office