Native Fish and Fishing Management Strategy, Pecos NHP

The Pecos National Historical Park (PECO) Native Fish and Fishing Management Strategy (Strategy), describes the management goals and objectives, and the management strategies and actions that will ensure the long term conservation and restoration of the native fish community, including an at-risk population of Rio Grande chub (Gila Pandora) in the Pecos River within Pecos National Historical Park, New Mexico, U.S.A. In 2008, PECO implemented a pilot, limited access, permitted, catch and release fishing program, and promulgated temporary fishing regulations under the authority of the Superintendents Compendium (36 CFR 1.5) to regulate its use.

However, the NPS has the obligation and responsibility to manage aquatic resources, including native fish communities, and regulate fishing in a manner that is consistent with the statutory mandates of the National Park Service Organic Act (1916; 54 USC 100101(a) et seq.; Organic Act), and NPS Management Policies (2006). Those mandates require PECO to conserve the natural resources of the park unimpaired, and to prioritize conservation of native resources over other recreational uses. Specifically, it requires PECO to preserve and restore the natural abundance, diversity, dynamics, distribution, habitats, genetics and behaviors of the native fish community; minimize human impacts on native fish populations; prevent the displacement of native fish by introduced exotic species, and; to control and/or eradicate non-natives to the extent prudent and feasible. Accordingly, management to maintain a trophy, non-native, predatory brown trout fishery for recreational purposes, to the detriment of the extant population of native Rio Grande chubs, is not consistent with the NPS mission and policy mandates.

The goal of the Native Fish and Fishing Management Strategy is to align future management at PECO with NPS Management Policies (NPS 2006), and management goals of PECO. The Strategy is intended to identify a programmatic framework that would direct future long-term management for fish populations, and recreational fishing within the park. The Strategy identifies opportunities for PECO to preserve and restore native fishes; control and/or eradicate non-native predatory trout; and identifies appropriate recreational fishing opportunities and regulations consistent with the intent of NPS management policies, so the Park may meet its obligation to conserve and protect native species, including the at-risk Rio Grande chub.

Accordingly, PECO recommends the implementation of a recreational fishing program that will realign the fishing program goals with the NPS Mission and policy mandates, with the following elements:

• Modification of the current non-native, catch and release, trout fishing program, and implementation of a fishing program with the goals of diversifying fishing opportunities, and encouraging the harvest of non-native trout;

• Modification of fishing regulations adopted under the authority of the Superintendents Compendium (36CFR1.5) that allow the take of non-native fish consistent with NM state regulations;

• Implementation of an annual fish community monitoring program.

• Implementation of an adaptive management program that would inform management actions to reduce brown trout abundance if the recreational fishing program alone is not sufficient to meet the management standards and thresholds thought necessary to protect native fish consistent with NPS native fish management and policy goals.

• Establishment of a managed, catch and release, native, Pecos-strain Rio Grande cutthroat trout fishery that will restore the native trout to the Pecos River fish community within PECO, mitigate for the loss of the catch and release brown trout fishery, and provide an opportunity for education and outreach about native fish within PECO.

• Reestablishment of a population of native flathead chubs within PECO.

Document Content:

PECO Native Fish Management Strategy DRAFT 2018.pdf   (1.1 MB, PDF file) Disclaimer: Links within the above document(s) were valid as of the date published. Note: Some of the files may be in PDF format and can be viewed using the Adobe Acrobat Reader software. You may download a free copy of from Adobe Systems.