A key fish that has dwelt in the Colorado River since ancient times, and whose presence indicates a healthy river, is now up against a threat from a giant dam above
A Utah State University research team pulls in a gillnet net at Lake Powell on Tuesday, June 7, 2022, in Page, Ariz. They are on a mission to save the humpback chub, an ancient fish under assault from nonnative predators in the Colorado River. – Barrett Friesen steers a motorboat toward the shore of Lake Powell, with the Glen Canyon Dam towering overhead. Pale “bathtub rings” line the canyon’s rocky face, starkly illustrating how water levels have slumped in the second-largest U.S.
Bass up in Lake Powell generally prefer warmer waters in shallow areas and at the surface. As reservoir levels drop, they are edging closer to the dam and its penstocks — submerged steel tubes that carry water to turbines, where it generates hydroelectric power and is released on the other side. Its only predator in the Colorado was another native, the pikeminnow, until trout were introduced in the early 20th century to create a sport fishery. Smallmouth bass, even more voracious, arrived in the 1990s.The chub has gained ground since its listing as endangered in 1967, with about 12,000 in the Grand Canyon's Little Colorado River, a tributary of the Colorado. Scientists estimate thousands more inhabit the main river farther downstream.
One measure under consideration if nonnative predators get through the dam is deploying crews to catch as many as possible. They already do that with brown trout upstream, Yackulic said. But it’s expensive and not always successful. Native American tribes such as the Pueblo of Zuni consider the Glen Canyon area sacred and oppose killing fish there, any fish.
That move, however, would sacrifice hydropower generation. To address that, turbines could be installed at the jet tubes — but that would require congressional approval. These steps also depend on having enough cool water in the river. Levels at Lake Powell had been relatively stable for some 15 years, but since 2020, have fallen dramatically.
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