Watershed Scale Piscicide-Driven Restoration Efforts: Challenges and Successes in Endemic Species Recovery

Intentional and unintentional introductions have made fish one of the world’s most introduced groups of aquatic animals. Although intentional introductions of salmonids, centrarchids, cyprinids, cichlids, percids, and esocids have often resulted in the desired outcomes, nonnative fish introductions also have had impacts on endemic species through competition, predation, habitat alteration, disease, and hybridization interactions.   The piscicides rotenone and antimycin are commonly used as tools for removal of introduced species prior to endemic fish restoration efforts.  A reliable source of endemic fish for repopulation must be secured through the establishment of satellite populations or propagation in a hatchery prior to removal of introduced species. This symposium will examine the progress of several aquatic habitat restoration programs worldwide including native trout in the United States, native salmon and char in Norway, native minnows in South Africa and others. While some of these programs have made significant progress over the last two decades others have not.  Symposium presentations will discuss a variety of factors affecting success including size and complexity of reclaimed habitat, available technology, agency policies, regulatory restrictions, funding, and public support.