Comment on FR Doc # E9-04155

Subject: Fish and Wildlife Service to Conduct Status Review of the Roundtail Chub This is in response to the USFWS news release, and Federal Register notice (74 FR 9205), dated March 3, 2009 for information on Roundtail Chub. Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to provide comment on the status review of this species. Although the Service is requesting information for the Roundtail chub and its habitat in the lower Colorado River basin, the Navajo Nation Department of Fish and Wildlife (NNDFW) would like to participate in this review by submitting data from the San Juan River Basin. The NNDFW is dedicated to conserve, protect, enhance and restore the Navajo Nation’s fish, wildlife and plants through aggressive management programs for the spiritual, cultural and material benefit of the present and future generations of the Navajo Nation. The NNDFW does not have any data or has not conducted any fish surveys in the lower Colorado Basin on Navajo Nation lands since the 1930’s and 1940’s according to USFWS. Therefore, data regarding the lower Colorado Basin on the Roundtail chub is very limited on the Navajo Nation for this particular area. The best source of information for this region would be the USFWS and Arizona Game and Fish Department, which conducts monitoring efforts for humpback chubs (Gila cypha) within the Little Colorado River. The Navajo Nation operates the Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM) Fish Passage from April 1 to October 31 annually. The Fish Passage was built to allow native fish and two endangered fish to move upstream of a PNM diversion dam. This passage also acts to trap fish during their movement upstream. At the top of the passage NNDFW employees identify, sort and record data for all fish on a daily basis; only native fish are released back into the river. The passage is located on the San Juan River about one mile west of Fruitland, New Mexico at river mile 166; thus it is 166 river miles upstream from Glen Canyon Dam and the lower Colorado Basin. The passage was completed in 2003 and the NNDFW has been operating the facility since then. The Navajo Nation is in partnership with the San Juan River Basin Recovery Implementation Program to help recover endangered fish species. Since the operation of the fish passage, data has been collected for all fish species. There were only two occurrences of the Roundtail chub using the facility since operations began in 2003 to the end of 2008. During this same period, we captured a total of 101,526 native fish (mostly razorback suckers, bluehead suckers, flannelmouth suckers and speckled dace) and 2,637 non-native fish. One Roundtail chub was caught in June of 2003 as a 390mm length adult, weighing 924g. According to the data it was believe this adult was spawning due to the bright orange-red coloration on the abdominal and ventral fins. The second occurrence was in June of 2007 where a healthy juvenile measuring 305mm and weighing 270g was caught. With only two occurrences of Roundtail chub caught in a span of six years in the San Juan River it should indicate the numbers of Roundtail chubs are very low. The State of New Mexico lists the Roundtail chub as endangered under the Wildlife Conservation Act and the state of Arizona lists the Roundtail chub as a Species of Concern or “Species at Risk.” The species has also maintained its position as an “endangered species” on the Navajo Endangered Species List since its inception in the late-1980s. Thus, it is only practicable the Service should include the Roundtail chub as threatened or endangered. A formal letter will be forthcoming to your office soon.