The Role of Introduced Populations in the Management and Conservation of Least Chub

Native fishes continue to decline in abundance and distribution. One common practice to ensure native fish persistence has been to introduce fish into new habitats. Though these introductions reduce the risk of extinction, often the introduced populations are not considered in the Endangered Species Act (ESA) listing status in the same manner as extant populations. One instance where they were considered was when Least Chub Iotichthys phlegethontis were introduced into 23 locations within the Bonneville Basin between 2005 and 2013. In 2014, 10 of these populations were considered successful and were evaluated with the six remaining extant populations by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In this instance, Least Chub were removed from the candidate list in part due to these introduced populations, which increased the resiliency, redundancy, and representation for this species to persist now and into the foreseeable future. The creation of introduced fish populations is a conservation practice that needs t...