[Vision2020] Minnows rescued as Brazos River in Texas dries up

[Tom Hansen]

If not for the courage of this fearless crew, the minnows would be lost.  The minnows would be lost.

Courtesy of Star-Telegram (Dallas, Texas) at:

http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/09/16/3374194/minnows-rescued-as-brazos-river.html

------------------------------
Minnows rescued as Brazos River in Texas dries up
 

Wading across a muddy Brazos River bed to reach shallow pools, wildlife biologists scooped up hundreds of minnows this week in the second such rescue of fish threatened by the state's worst drought in decades.

The scientists collected smalleye shiners and sharpnose shiners from the Brazos near Sagerton, about 150 miles west of Fort Worth.

The fish, which are found only in the Brazos, are candidates for the threatened or endangered list under the federal Endangered Species Act.

The minnows were taken to the state's fish hatchery near Possum Kingdom Lake but will be returned to the river when the drought eases, officials said.

Scientists used a large net to scoop up dozens of fish at a time. They said they removed about 2,300 fish on Thursday and about 800 on Friday.

Both types of 2-inch minnows are shiny and have other distinctive features, making them easy for scientists to spot and put in buckets. Other fish caught in the nets were thrown back, said Kevin Mayes, an aquatic biologist with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

As the river dries up in the drought, the minnows don't have the 100 miles of river they need to reproduce, Mayes said. Game fish like catfish and largemouth bass eat the minnows, making them important to the ecosystem, he said.

Last week, a team rescued 110 Arkansas River shiners and 60 peppered chubs, both on the federal threatened list, from the Canadian River in the Panhandle near the New Mexico border and took them to a federal fish hatchery in Oklahoma. Gene Wilde, a Texas Tech University fish ecology professor who led the team, said he believes that effort was the first fish rescue in Texas during this severe drought.

"We value these species, and they are an important part of the Texas natural heritage, so we're trying to prevent losing them in this drought," Wilde said, referring to both rescue efforts.

Large fish rescues are rare, but they could become more common for fish, reptiles and amphibians as the drought persists.

Texas is home to 86 species considered endangered or threatened.

The San Saba, Colorado and Llano rivers are home to several species of mussels, some of which are listed as threatened in Texas and for which petitions are pending for federal status.

Several federally endangered species -- including the fountain darter and the Texas blind salamander -- could need rescuing from the Comal and San Marcos Springs, south of Austin.

If stream flows reach a certain low level, biologists with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will evacuate as many samples of the species as possible.

About 88 percent of the state is in the worst stage of drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor map released Thursday.

Texas just finished its driest 11 months on record and is in its worst single-year drought ever.

------------------------------

Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
 


 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20110918/2558be71/attachment.html>