Grand Canyon crews removed non-native fish; rainbow trout share fell below 10%
A historical study of the Colorado River reveals that removing non-native rainbow trout significantly altered the fish population in the Grand Canyon. The experiment highlights the complex ecological challenges of managing native species like the humpback chub in dam-altered environments.
Why it matters
It demonstrates the difficulty of ecological restoration and the unintended consequences of human intervention in river ecosystems.
In the depths of the Grand Canyon, scientists were trying to give native fish a better chance of survival, by taking other fish out of the Colorado River. A four-year fish-removal experiment conducted between 2003 and 2006 dramatically changed the composition of fish being caught in one section of the river. According to a 2011 study by Michael D. Coggins Jr., Michael D. Yard and William E. Pine III, published in Transactions of the American Fisheries Society and available through the U.S. Geological Survey, rainbow trout went from making up about 90% of the catch at the beginning of the experiment to less than 10% by August 2006.
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