Review of the Utility and Success of Captive Propagation for the Recovery of Imperiled Nongame Fish Species

Captive propagation of endangered or threatened fish species is often the last resort for avoiding extinction, but it is increasingly being initiated for species or even populations. To inform the decision-making process surrounding initiation of a propagation program for two endangered and declining western lakesuckers, we reviewed the success of relevant, existing propagation programs, with special attention on programs for closely related species. Success of such programs is often difficult to define, let alone achieve and monitor. Success has been generally very limited across most species, but when success is achieved it is typically associated with other ecosystem-level improvements. Detractors argue that propagation programs divert already limited resources from addressing the ultimate causes of imperilment to efforts that typically only address proximate threats, or that we are unable to sufficiently eliminate the effects of captivity to make this option viable in the long-term. We recommend that strict scientific methods and decision analysis be used to determine the utility and success of captive propagation for the recovery of imperiled fish species.