http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&
u=/ap/20031030/ap_on_sc/native_fish_1
Thu, Oct 30, 2003
Native Fish
in Arizona River in Peril
TUCSON, Ariz. - Native
fish in the Gila River basin are on the
brink of extinction and little is being done to help save them,
according to a study by a team of biologists.
Written by scientists
from federal agencies, Arizona State
University, the University of Arizona and the Nature Conservancy,
the 20-page report said that Arizona's native fish population
is under siege.
"Arizona is on
a path to have all of its native fish go extinct
unless state and federal agencies start doing - rather than just
talking about - their jobs," said Leon Fager, a longtime
endangered-species biologist for the U.S. Forest Service.
The study of a dozen
threatened or endangered warm-water
fish in the Gila River basin found that half of the species
no longer exist in wild populations.
Five species occupy
less than one-fifth of their historic range,
while the Headwater Chub is found in 40 percent of its former
range.
And despite a government-drafted
recovery plan for the fish,
scientists said those plans aren't being followed or aren't working.
"Few successful
recovery and conservation actions have occurred
during the 36-year period assessed," the scientists said,
arguing
that more should be done to control nonnative fish.
The report's findings
were publicized by Public Employees
for Environmental Responsibility, a group that supports
government employees who work on environmental issues.
"The deteriorating
status of these populations can be reversed,
but scientists are saying none of the steps promised are being
taken," said Jeff Ruch, the group's executive director.
The group says that
at least 130 fish species in the desert
Southwest are declining and an additional 16 are already extinct.
In Arizona, more than
90 percent of riparian habitat is gone
and at least 100 species of nonnative fish have been introduced,
the group said.
But Jeff Humphrey,
a spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, said that although the joint study is a "fair assessment",
he pointed out that environmental changes and improvements happen
over time.
"The current threats
to a lot of these fish have been here
for 200 years. To expect us to turn that around in a period
of even a decade is pie in the sky," Humphrey said.
The 630-mile Gila River
starts in southwest New Mexico and
meets the Colorado near Yuma. Its basin drains most of southern
Arizona, including the Santa Cruz and San Pedro rivers near Tucson.
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