Lost, A Desert River and its Native Fishes - Sierra Club

Fig. 79. Desert pupfish refugium located at Cibola National Wildlife Refuge, Arizona-California.
introduced species. The fish was federally listed as
endangered in 1967.
Machete
Machetes were occasionally taken from the Salton
Sea and in the river upstream to Imperial Dam until the
mid-1940‘s. Tenpounders only have access to the Colorado
River during major floods when the river is reconnected
to the Gulf of California. Several were captured
near Yuma when floodflows from the Gila River reached
the sea in 1997. Those trapped in the river when flows
receded soon died. There is no evidence to suggest they
can reproduce in the river.
Striped Mullet
Mullets were common and frequently trapped in the
Laguna Maquata (Salada) by major floods. This desert
playa contained thousands of mullets in 1884. Historically,
mullet numbers were reported as —sporadic“ upstream
of Yuma by early accounts. However, they became
more common as canals and drains were built. They were
often seen attempting to swim over the weir at Laguna
Dam. The flood of 1905œ1907 carried them and other fish
into the Salton Sink. Initially, common carp dominated
the fishery but as salinity increased, so did mullet numbers,
until they dominated by 1940. For a period, the
MUELLER AND MARSH 65
Salton Sea supported a commercial fishery where one
company harvested more than 90 tons of mullet in 1943.
Today, their numbers in the lower river have declined, but
unlike the machete, there is limited production in saline,
agricultural drains.
The Future of Native Fish
The future is grim for native fish in the Lower
Colorado River. Remnant native communities continue to
decline, except for small refugium populations. Their fate
has been sealed by the dependence on the river by 30
million water users in the United States and Mexico.
Societies‘ dependence upon water makes native fish
recovery economically and politically unlikely, and
perhaps impossible. Four decades of research, coupled
with failed stocking programs, have shown us that larger
adults can be stocked but they cannot be expected to
produce young that survive. Predation is too great and
we do not have the technology or willingness to remove
these economically important recreational fisheries.
Anglers quite often question the value of these
—sucker“ fish. —They certainly are bony so what good are
they?“ A friend once replied: —I doubt if God ever made
anything that was totally worthless. The problem with
man is, he often doesn‘t recognize how precious something
is until it‘s lost.“ That is worth thinking about.