This federal Formula Grant award from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under the State Wildlife Grants (CFDA 15.634) program will provide $202,518 to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to conduct a 3-year study on the tributary use of blue sucker, a native fish species, in the Colorado River downstream of Austin, Texas. The key activities include:
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Deploying passive integrated transponder (PIT) tag antenna arrays in five tributaries to assess use by adult blue sucker fish that were previously tagged by the state agency.
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Conducting environmental DNA (eDNA) surveys to seasonally evaluate the occurrence and distribution of blue sucker in the target tributaries.
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Employing standard fishery survey methods like seining, gillnetting, and electrofishing in two tributaries with historical blue sucker occurrences, as well as any other tributaries where PIT tags or eDNA detect the species' presence.
This comprehensive assessment of blue sucker tributary usage will provide the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department with critical data to support conservation planning and management for this native fish species in the Colorado River basin.
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