900 June suckers plunged into reservoir

The June sucker continued to swim toward survival Monday with reintroduction of about 900 of the endangered Utah Lake fish into Red Butte Reservoir.

The June sucker, scientific name Chasmistes liorus, is native to Utah Lake and nowhere else. In 1986 it was designated as an endangered species. At one time the population was estimated at only 300 fish in the lake.

As a requirement for part of the Central Utah Project to continue its water development, the sucker is being brought back to healthy populations. Restoration efforts have lifted the population to between 1,000 and 10,000 in Utah Lake, and work is continuing.

Many are being raised in a hatchery in Logan.

About 15 years ago, biologists placed some of the fish in Red Butte Reservoir, which is on Wasatch-Cache National Forest land, in what was supposed to be a temporary holding site. The reservoir is a flood control facility and is protected from public entry.

Although the fish were supposed to be there a short time, the reservoir was found to be an ideal location for June suckers.

"They were actually spawning along the shores," said Reed Harris, an employee of the Utah Department of Natural Resources who is director of the June Sucker Recovery Implementation Program. June suckers remained in the reservoir and did well there.

But a year and a half ago, the reservoir was in need of repairs and drained. The June suckers were captured and taken to Utah Lake and the hatchery. After the repairs, the reservoir was refilled.

On Monday, June suckers were trucked to Red Butte Reservoir from the hatchery and released.

"We had two hatchery trucks" haul the fish in, said Harris. "We just backed them up" to the reservoir, and opened a tank in the back. "You just open it up and drain the water and the fish go shooting out," he said.

Fish released were of various ages, ranging from 3 to 4 inches long to about a foot.

"Everything went fine," he said.

Kris Buelow, an employee of the Central Utah Water Conservancy District, Orem, who is the local coordinator for the June Sucker Recovery Program, said years ago, water diversions on the Provo River were killing adult fish during their spawning runs.

"Fish no longer die in the river, and that won't happen anymore due to cooperation with the water users and the biologists," he said.

The June sucker is important not only because it is a rare fish, but also because it is unique among suckers in that it feeds throughout the water. Other suckers, like the Utah sucker, feed on insects in the bottom sediments.

"The June sucker will feed on zooplankton in the water column," Buelow said. They are "more of a filter feeder as they swim through."

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