ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.—The number of Rio Grande silvery minnows is growing in New Mexico thanks to four rainy years and new breeding projects.
While it’s difficult to get an exact number of the fish, there are many indications that populations are growing and healthy, said Jennifer Parody, the Middle Rio Grande Endangered Species Act coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
“We don’t have an actual count of fish in the river, but we can see a change in our long-term monitoring,” she said.
Twenty sites have been monitored for more than a decade. Sites that in the early 2000s did not have fish, now have them, she said.
A century ago, the tiny fish was abundant in the Rio Grande and some of its tributaries from the Gulf of Mexico to northern New Mexico. Today, it survives only in the Middle Rio Grande, from Cochiti Dam to Elephant Butte.
The plummeting population prompted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the minnow as endangered in 1994.
But the fish is far from saved. It still lives in only about 7 percent of its historical habitat in the river, said Grace Haggerty, a hydrogeologist with the Interstate Stream Commission.
And continued drought also could put the minnow at risk.
“We’ve had some favorable water conditions in the last four years after a prolonged drought, which has helped, but that doesn’t mean those favorable conditions will continue,” she said.
Several new efforts are under way to boost the fish’s population.
In Los Lunas, a $2 million minnow breeding facility is under construction and scheduled to open in late 2008.
The facility will provide natural conditions—flooding, a winding river and places for water to pool—so the fish can decide where ideal breeding spots are, said Doug Tave, manager of the Los Lunas Silvery Minnow Refugium.
Food sources will be built into the ecology of the facility, so fish will learn to fend for themselves when released into the wild, he said.
The city of Albuquerque is breeding silvery minnows and collects minnow eggs from the wild to assure genetic diversity in its population, said Chris Altenbach, head aquarist at the Albuquerque Biological Park.
The city releases about 75,000 fish into the Rio Grande each year and has a captive population of 35,000.
And the Bureau of Reclamation is working on a $4 million development called the Silvery Minnow Sanctuary in Albuquerque, Connie Rupp, Albuquerque area manager, said. It should be finished by next fall.
“It’s an offstream area that protects the minnow. When we’re in critical drought years, this is a place where the minnow can survive and be nourished,” she said.
The bureau also is working on habitat restoration along the river.
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Information from: The Albuquerque Tribune,
