Fish Transfers

We will be working at Red Butte Reservoir Monday through Friday beginning 26 April and continuing until the end of June 2005. Suckers will be transferred and released at appropriate sites daily.

On Monday of each week we'll provide a weekly summary of number of suckers captured and sites of release and any other interesting information.

All the suckers will be treated chemically for potential pathogens and or tape worm. There is no positive identification of tapeworm but we are treating all fish as a precaution.

Summary of Activities

Summary
  8,809 June suckers have been PIT tagged and transferred to Utah Lake.
4,478 smaller suckers have been transferred to Ensign Ponds.
Total suckers captured and removed from Red Butte = 13,243

Week 8

 

The project is winding down. We pulled the remaining 595 PIT taggable June suckers out of the reservoir by Wednesday. The reservoir is down to a pool about 60 X 75 ft and 3 inches deep and the mud is about 4 feet deep.

Krissy Wilson
Native Aquatic Biologist
Utah Division Wildlife Resources
Central Region

Week 7

 

Very productive week! Due to the low water levels we were very efficient using the 300 foot seine. We captured, PIT tagged and transferred to Utah Lake 2,911 June suckers >150 mm TL. Approximately 1,700 smaller suckers were transferred to Ensign Ponds.

Krissy Wilson
Native Aquatic Biologist
Utah Division Wildlife Resources
Central Region

Week 6

  The DWR June sucker crew captured and PIT tagged 663 June suckers. The 663 were transferred to Utah Lake and released. An additional 1,768 smaller suckers (<150 mm TL) were transferred to the Ensign Ponds for growout.

The total number of June suckers PIT tagged and transferred to Utah Lake as of the end of Week 6 is 5,303. Approximatley 2,715 smaller suckers have been transferred to the Ensign Ponds

The water level has dropped significantly since we began culling suckers from the reservoir. It is now about 8 ft maximum depth. Due to the decrease in water depth we began using the seine as a method to capture suckers. So far this week (week 7) we have pulled out over 2,000 PIT taggable suckers. It has been a very busy week for the crew!

Krissy Wilson
Native Aquatic Biologist
Utah Division Wildlife Resources
Central Region

Week 5

 

We caught, PIT-tagged, and released into Utah Lake 1782 June sucker greater than 150 mm. We transported ~450 June sucker less than 150 mm to Ensign ponds in Box Elder county. As of this week, the maximum depth left in the reservoir is about 10 feet.

Cynthia Sanders
June Sucker Biologist
UDWR Central Region

Week 4

 

We collected, PIT tagged, and transported 508 June sucker greater than 150 mm to Utah Lake in week 4 of the project. We collected and transported 150 June sucker less than 150 mm to Ensign ponds. We removed 1215 crayfish from our trapnets and trammel nets and either destroyed them or gave them to Utah State. The lake has dropped about five feet this week, for a total of 20-25 feet since the start of the project.

Cynthia Sanders
June Sucker Biologist
UDWR Central Region

Week 3

  The June sucker crew removed 1600 June suckers >150 mm in length, PIT tagged and transported them to Utah Lake. We also removed 195 fish <150 mm in length and transported them to Ensign ponds in Box Elder county. The lake has dropped about 15 feet from the original water line.

Krissy Wilson
Native Aquatic Biologist
UDWR Central Region

Week 2

 

We PIT-tagged and transferred 410 June sucker greater than 150 mm to Utah Lake and transferred 152 June sucker less than 150 mm to Ensign ponds in Box Elder county.

Cynthia Sanders
June Sucker Biologist
UDWR Central Region

Week 1

 

We PIT-tagged and transferred ~340 June sucker greater than 150 mm in length to Utah Lake. We are currently holding 60-70 June sucker 100-150 mm in live wells for transfer to Ensign Ponds. We caught two Bonneville cutthroat trout in the trammel nets and transferred them upstream of the gaging station. While we were there, the reservoir level dropped by at least five feet.

Cynthia Sanders
June Sucker Biologist
UDWR Central Region